What Dreams Are Made Of
by Disturbed Courtney
Summary: Story Eleven: A reoccurring dream leads Rogue to a secret locked deep in her mind.
1. Empty Thought Clouds

What Dreams Are Made Of 

God it's been so long since one of these, eh?  *grins*  What makes me so happy is that I've actually had emailed requests for the next part.  You guys love me!!  Okay, enough of that dramatic stuff.  I need to get a few things across.  As you all know, this is my screwed up Evolution timeline.  Remy has been in it since the very beginning, which was over a year and a half ago.  He has shoulder length copper brown hair, wears a brown duster at all known times since it's the very cliché thing to do, and he has red-on-black eyes.  He's also devastatingly handsome.  In other words, he's nothing like the guy who appeared on the show.

Another thing… I know I try to mix the real verse in with mine so it can kind of flow… I really can't do that anymore, so, forget everything you know after Beast joins the team. (Ah, what the hell, I'll give in Amanda too just for Kurt)  That includes all of "Day of Reckoning" because I seriously can't fit in all that stuff and it just screws me up.  Though I'm thinking of doing a Rogue torture fic… those are always fun.  Kidding! (So Tabitha is still with the B-Hood, there's no Wanda, etc, though I will find some way to fit her in later.)

So, as per usual, this follows the last fic… though by a couple months, since this is in summer and the last one was placed with "Adrift" and that was early winter by my guesses.  "Twisted Christmas" by me and Lilith will also be referred to a couple times.  I think that's mainly why there is such a large time gap, since that story is NOWHERE near completion.  *stares at Lil* Kidding again. 

Enough of this.  I ramble too much.  I really, really hope you guys enjoy this one.

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She tossed and turned over and over as the nightmare raced through her slumber.  She recognized it from nights before, but she could never tell the dream when she woke up.  It was like it was wiped from her mind until the next night when she would have to live it again.  

Suddenly, she sat up abruptly and screamed "No!"  It was over as quickly as it started.  The images faded into nothing as she was surrounded by black.

"Rogue? Chere?" 

She blinked, trying to get her eyes adjusted to the dark.  She saw a shadow sitting by her sheet-tangled limbs on her bed, red eyes blinking back at her.  "Remy?"

"Y' had dat dream again."

She laughed bitterly.  "How could ya tell?" She asked sarcastically.

Carefully, he helped her out of the tiny trap she'd caught herself in with her sheets.  He climbed up on the bed next to her and wrapped a blanket-covered arm around her shoulders carefully.  It was summer and she'd taken to wearing a simple sports bra and shorts to bed, so this was necessary.  She snuggled into his touch, feeding off of it for her comfort.  She glanced across the room to Kitty, who was sitting up, blinking as well.  "What's going on?" She asked groggily.

"Ah had that dream again."

"Again?  You should really tell the Prof about it."

"He doesn't need ta know anythin'.  It's just a dream.  Everyone has nightmares an' they don't need ta be instantly psychoanalyzed," she spat.

Kitty nodded.  "I guess you're right.  I'm sorry."

"It's okay.  Just try ta get back ta sleep.  Me an' Remy'll leave ya be so ya can."  Remy took that cue and stood up, extending a hand to help Rogue up as well.  She smiled as he swooped her up, blanket and all.  Kitty watched them leave by the window, assuming that they were going to the roof as they always did.  It did bring a smile to her face as she lay back down.

Outside, Rogue easily lifted herself and Remy into the air and landed daintily on the roof.  She wrapped the blanket around her tightly and allowed Remy to pull her onto his lap.  

"Now, y' need t' tell me 'bout dis dream."

"How can Ah tell ya it if Ah don't remember it mahself.  It's nothin'.  Really," she insisted.

He eyed her intensely before nodding.  "Fine.  Y' need t' get a good night's sleep dough.  Dis has been bot'erin' y' all week."

_Longer than that.  "How do you know?" She asked accusingly._

"Y' act like y' don' know dat I sneak in at night."

"An' here Ah thought it was ta watch Kitty and get Lance jealous for fun." 

"Well, dat too, but I check up on y' once in awhile t' make sure y' don't catch me ooglin' her."  He surprisingly kept his lips from twitching into a smirk, but his eyes betrayed him.  She could only shake her head.

"What am Ah ta do with ya…" she said, not really speaking to him, nor expecting an answer.

But it was him, so of course he had to give one.  "If I had a nickel f'r ev'rytime y' said dat…"

"You could buy a house bigger than the institute," she instantly replied.

"An' a horse f'r you."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  "A horse?"

"Ev'ry li'l girl wishes for a horse."

"A pony, Remy," she corrected him.  "Ah actually wanted a unicorn.  What are ya gonna do about that?"

"Umm… would y' settle f'r a really, really big stuffed one?"

She playfully shoved her shoulder into his chest.  "Ah guess," she sighed dramatically.  "But when Ah'm older an' Ah need psychiatric help, all mah problems are gonna be yoah fault just because you couldn't find me a unicorn."  She laughed quietly.  "Ah act like Ah don't have problems now."

Remy watched her mood turn somber once again.  "We better go find y' dat unicorn den.  Or!  How 'bout dis.  We go sneak in t' Wolvie's room, roll up a piece of paper into a cone, an' put it on his forehead," he said erratically.  

"All without him sensin' us there.  Sure." She rolled her eyes, but smiled despite herself.

"O' course…  Y' can knock him out first, how's dat?"

"Sounds like a plan ta me."  She laughed for real this time.  Remy joined in laughing with her.  Rogue's fit of giggles actually brought pain to her sides.  Once it all subsided, she looked at Remy sincerely.  "Thank you."

He hugged her tightly.  "Anytime."  She molded into his body and relaxed, hoping to find herself on the roof the next morning still in his arms as she had many times before.  In the back of her mind, however, she felt the tiny twinge of fear and pain that guaranteed once she closed her eyes that damn nightmare would be back.  So instead of fully relaxing and enjoying Remy's warm, she sat, eyes wide towards the starry sky.  "I'm guessin' y' not gon' fall 'sleep, eh?"

"Ah swear, you're half-telepathic."

"Neh, I be an empath, chere.  We been over dis."

"Still the same ta me."

"Sure.  Now, if I were a telepath, I would get in dat pretty li'l head o' yours an' find out what de hell is keepin' y' up at night."

She sighed.  "Do ya think Ah should go see Xavier about it?"

"It's up t' you.  I t'ink seein' him is better dan Jean, dough."

She laughed briefly.  "Very true.  Ah wanna see if Ah can get this on mah own though.  Ya know how Ah just love help from others."

"Oui.  Y' just called y'self stubborn in y' own way, I hope y' realize dat."

"Ah know.  Quiet."  She grinned and poked at his stomach.  She settled down again into the curve of his body.  "Ah'm so awake now."

"What're y' gon' do about it?" He asked, in a way hinting at other things.  She could tell by the way his head suddenly sat on her shoulder, the way his breath tickled her ear more than usual.  She melted at the feeling, but wasn't completely in that sort of mood.

"Not what ya think we're gonna do."

"Damn, an' t' t'ink I t'ought I was gon' get some out o' dis late night rendezvous."

"You can be such a horn dog sometimes," she scoffed, only half disgusted.

"An' y' act like y' don't like it when I am," he laughed, tickling her sides.

He had her pinned now as he attacked her playfully.  She went along with it and allowed herself to be tickled and didn't instantly break out of his squirming hands with her super strength.  When she had long run out of breath from laughing, she pulled out of his reach, suspending herself in the air.  "Ah think a flight'll do me good," she said, twirling in the air so get a feel for the night.

"If y' say so," he smiled, standing up.  "Should I wait up f'r y'?"

"Ah dunno how Ah'm gonna be.  Might take me a while ta wear out."

"Y' know I'll be up anyway," he smirked.

"That is if ya don't follow me, which is quite the usual occurrence by you."

"Merde, am I gettin' dat predictable?"  He snapped his fingers in mock-disappointment.

She lowered herself down to his eye level.  "Ah didn't say Ah didn't enjoy it."  She kissed his forehead through his shaggy long bangs.  "Ah'll see ya in a bit, wherever we'll be."

"'Course, cherie."  He lifted her hand to his lips in a fluid movement and planted a kiss on her knuckles.

"Ah'll nevah get sick of that," she whispered.

"Don' t'ink I do it f'r your sake," he chuckled.  He stepped to the edge of the roof.  "Till later."  Then he did a deft back flip off, blanket and all.  Rogue was used to this sort of dramatic exit by him, so all she could do was shake her head and leap off the roof herself, catching her body from falling by flying with a power that was not originally hers.  She usually didn't think of Carol too much since she was locked within the inner depths of her mind, but maybe she was breaking out and causing her reoccurring nightmare?  The thought scared Rogue and her mind leaned more towards letting the Professor know about it.  Remy did happen to mention she was stubborn, so of course she was thinking of other plausible reasons for the nightmare just so she wouldn't need to have her mind prodded at.

She flew blindly for a bit, too much into thought to think about where she was flying.  She actually almost flew into a tall tree, just brushing against the outermost branches.  It snapped her back into reality.  She then realized where she had ended up.  A slight smirk came to her face as she landed right on the shabby welcome mat.  Her second home up in Bayville – the Brotherhood Manor.

Rogue didn't know why she tried knocking.  Before her and Remy went to the roof she'd seen it was almost two in the morning.  She reflexively did it, since it wasn't her actual home anymore, so she wasn't privileged to waltz right in.  It surprised the hell out of her was that someone actually answered the door.  What shocked her even more was who answered.  "Mystique!?"

Her mother stood before her in her natural form, hair slightly ruffled from sleeping, dressed in a simple tank top and pajama bottoms.  "Rogue?  What are you doing here?"  She eyed her daughter in her otherwise skimpy shorts and sports bra.  _She's dressed a little dangerously to just go anywhere._

"Ah could ask the same of you," she said more harshly than wanted.

"Imagine my manners.  Come in."  She smiled warmly and stepped aside so Rogue had room to walk in.  It took her a second to do so, as she was completely appalled by this whole thing.  Once inside, she took a second to glance around, noticing the place was just as she left it, though she was all but certain Mystique had taken the opportunity to clean when she returned.  The boys were never ones to keep the house tidy.  The living room was dimly lit, and a steaming cup of tea was sitting on the coffee table with a few scattered newspapers.  Rogue turned to face Mystique.  "Couldn't sleep?"

She shook her head.  "You?"

"What was yoah first clue?" She laughed bitterly.  "You didn't answer mah first question yet though."

"Neither did you.  And I think I did ask first."  She passed Rogue and took a seat on the slightly battered couch.  Rogue followed suit and took a seat on the opposite end.  She wasn't sure how to answer her mother.

On the other end of town at the institute, Remy had back flipped onto Rogue's balcony by accident.  He thought to himself for a minute and realized he should have gone to the opposite side of the roof… "Screw it," he muttered to himself, brushing a lock of hair from his eyes.  He let himself back into Rogue's room and glided through it as if he feet were made of liquid, because he was just that damn smooth.  He made a quick stop at Rogue's bed to drop off her blanket and then continued across the room.  He shut the door behind him quietly, but alas, the young Kitty had not fully fallen asleep in the first place.  She waited a few moments for Rogue to follow him in, confused as why she hadn't come in with him.  Remy's the type of suave, debonair guy that would tuck his girl into bed and make sure she was fast asleep before leaving.

After a full minute of nothing, Kitty lifted herself out of bed just as smooth as Remy walked across the room.  She also walked through the door with ease.  She glanced to each side of the hallway, not sure which way the Cajun had gone.

She quickly remembered his style… he would most likely go after Rogue.  It was common knowledge.  Then she noted his apparel – he was in no shape to go after his girlfriend in the middle of the night.  Kitty smiled at her own deductions and figured he headed to his room.  There was no way she was going to fall asleep any time soon thanks to the two of them, so she might as well play the game and follow, too.  She headed in the direction of the boys' wing, deciding she would need a partner in crime.  And if there was anyone up for a last-minute adventure, it was Kurt.

"Ah was just flyin' around an' found mahself here.  Honestly.  Yoah turn."

"That's hardly an answer."

"C'mon.  Don't make me beg you ta let me know where you were all this time.  After that time down in Caldecott you just disappeared."

Mystique avoided Rogue's penetrating gaze for a moment.  "You do remember that talk, right?"

_Every word.  "Yeah."_

"You remember how I said something about getting away from Magneto?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, that's exactly what I did."

Rogue just stared at her for a moment.  "But you just left… Ah talked ta Lance a while ago an' he said after all the Asteroid M mess you were gone.  The boys were left with no one… an' ya didn't even bother ta tell me or Kurt.  Ah'm not sure about him, but Ah was sorta worried," she admitted.  _This is turnin' inta the heart-ta-heart Ah wasn't expectin' foh a lifetime, she sighed inwardly._

Mystique hid her smile.  "If I told anyone, Magneto surely would have found out.  Especially with that mouth on Pietro," she glared up towards the ceiling as if she could see him sleeping through it for effect.  "I did keep an eye on everyone though."

"How?"

She shrugged.  "Nothing too effective," she answered, though Rogue could sense the deception in her voice.  _There's no way I can tell her about Risty, Mystique thought hastily.  "Does that answer your question?"_

"Ah guess.  It's not like you're gonna say anythin' else."  Mystique felt a stab from her words, but kept her feelings hidden.  Time 'away' had made her nastier, more sneaky and deceitful, but she still felt her otherwise ignored obligations as a mother.

"So… tell me something new and exciting that'll make me feel like my bad case of insomnia is worth it."

"Umm… Life's been pretty normal - no new baddies, got a buncha new teammates - "

"You still with the Cajun?"  Mystique knew the answer already much to her disgrace, but she mustn't give up her cover.

Rogue smiled.  "Goin' strong.  Did you really expect any other answer?"

"Unfortunately, no."

"Well, now, wait a minute.  He told me you got along great with me not there one time," Rogue said, defending Remy.

"We did - but he also implied that you have had… relations."

"Oh, Gawd.  You're gone this long an' you're actin' like the mother that you're not -" Rogue shut her mouth the instant those words passed by her lips.  Mystique sat quietly, staring at nothing but her hands folded in her lap as if they were the most interesting things in the world.  "Ah… Ah'm sorry."

"Don't be."  She stared coldly at her hands, wishing she could morph into an animal and disappear again by flying away or escape through a hole on the wall like mice portrayed in cartoons.  But she knew she had to face Rogue - and Kurt - now.  "Remy is a good boy," she whispered, hoping to go back to the original subject under discussion.  "But something about him just seems…"

Rogue snickered knowingly.  "Ah know what you're trying ta say, because Ah know that feelin'.  'Tainted' is the word you're lookin' foh."

"Sounds like you've found out some 'fun' info and done some things that I don't know about."  A smirk played at her lips.

Rogue inwardly groaned.  _She's baitin' me… but Ah see no reason not ta tell her.  It'll be fun ta see that damn smile wiped clear off her face.  "You know how it can be… growin' up in the Thieves Guild, bein' in an arranged marriage at the age of 16, killin' yoah soon-ta-be brother in law, an' bein' genetically altered by a mad scientist -- oh, you __knew 'bout that part already, though."  She smiled sweetly.  Mystique did her best to keep her jaw from hanging open._

"Excuse me?"

Rogue sighed dramatically.  "Do Ah really need ta say it all again?  It's quite a mouthful if ya think about it."  She rummaged around on the coffee table as if she were looking for something.  "Maybe Ah should write it down?" She suggested when she found a pen.

"No, no, that's fine.  Okay, after all of this, have you found some way to have… God, this is embarrassing… _intercourse with him?"  Saying that word was like stepping on her little toe with a stiletto heel.  That friggin' painful.  It came out as a harsh whisper, but the word was all but clearly annunciated for Rogue._

The younger girl bit her lip to bite back her laughter.  Before long it was just too much and she burst out laughing.  "I'm glad this is so amusing for you."

"Why are you so damn curious of whether we've done it or not?  Ah swear, you're as bad as everyone else at the institute."

"With good reason.  You're teenagers with raging hormones."

"Okay, just because he comes off as an incredible ladies' man, doesn't mean he'll jump inta bed with anythin' with somethin' missin' between their legs."

"So you haven't," she answered.

"No.  Mainly because we're happy with what we already do."  _An' the fact that doin' it through a hole in a sheet is just too creepy, not that Remy hasn't brought it up…  A blush crept up her cheeks._

"And what is it that you already do?"

Rogue threw her hands up in the air.  "Ah can't talk about this anymore with you.  It's just too damn weird for my likin'."

Mystique laughed.  "Can't blame me for being curious."  When she would talk to Rogue as Risty in school and all, they would talk about these things all the time.  But for the time being, 'Risty was spending time with her grandmother in England for the summer', so Mystique's gossip was cut short.  She'd eventually become addicted to it as if she were an actual teenager again.  Being Rogue's best friend made her wish that she actually had a friend like her when she was growing up.  It was impossible though, so she lived for the present and remained Rogue's friend for her benefit in requiring information and also, to feel human again.

Remy was well aware of the tiny audience he'd gathered.  He felt Kitty sit up the second he stepped into the hallway.  He figured it would be interesting to see how far along she came with him as far as following Rogue went.  And as he was getting some extra clothing on in his room, he had peeked out his door to see Kitty go into Kurt's room.  _So she's gettin' Blue Boy t' help out.  Even better._

Soon he was down in the garage, slinking about in his Remy way.  His motorcycle was parked next to Logan's, as they had been polishing and discussing them in a civil manner earlier that day.  Rogue had been astonished they didn't find some way to piss each other off.  But as for now, the bike was clean and he still had his head on his shoulders, so that was the last thing on his mind.  Rogue's nightmare, on the other hand, had him thinking.  He knew Rogue unconsciously had to know what was going on in her dreams, but she was too proud to admit that it was worse than she said.

Remy was being truthful when he said he's been watching her.  He still had a dream or two of his own that would leave him too shaky to sleep.  So of course, he would check up on her.  It was that or plan some sort of prank on the other sleeping students.  The former would get him in less trouble, if any at all.    

He would usually watch her from the foot of her bed, since when she did dream badly, she thrashed her torso more than her legs.  In the winter, he would actually get into bed with her since they would both be covered with more clothes.  They had both found out in Caldecott that each other's warmth and comfort kept away anything bad.  But Remy just watched her this week, listened to her mumble incoherently except for the few words he could make out (consisting mainly of 'no' and 'why' and 'don't').  Sometimes the mood would glisten against the thin sheen of sweat that would form on her skin.

He could only observe her.  If she wasn't tossing and turning too much, he sometimes dared himself to delicately peel a sweat-soaked lock of white hair from across her face.  One time, two nights before, he tried that and accidentally brushed his fingertip against her forehead.  She let out a moan and a shiver with the sudden invasion of her mind, but it calmed her down enough that she slept through the rest of the night.  Ever since then, he was sure he had the magic touch to take her marred dreams away.  He did enjoy the ego boost.

While he was doing all this thinking, he'd begun walking his bike out to the main gate.  Before leaving the house, he'd taken the liberty of turning off the security for five minutes by this separate control remote he'd setup with help from Kitty.  He could only help that she and Kurt made it out before everything turned back on.

He reached the gate and checked his stopwatch.  A minute-thirty to spare.  He opened the gate and wished Kurt and Kitty luck on finding him once he took off.  He smirked as he mounted his bike and was gone.

Once Kitty had awoken Kurt, he insisted they tell Evan what was going on incase they needed someone to cover them if they were caught.  Evan reluctantly agreed to find some way to take the heat off them if necessary.  The moment Kurt teleported himself and Kitty out of the skater's room, Evan promptly put his head back on his pillow and fell asleep.  

They landed in the garage where Remy had exited half a minute before.  Kurt pulled the key for the van off the wall and jiggled it in front of Kitty's face.  "Van sounds good?"

"Yeah.  I'm figuring Remy is using the security scrambler I designed for him, but it's only good for five minutes."

"Any telling on how long ago he activated it?"

She shook her head.  "No worried though.  All this stuff is motion detected."

"And zat is going to help us… how?"

"God, Elf.  If I make the car intangible… do I have to explain everything?"

 "Duh, of course.  Let's get going."  He teleported in the van on the driver's side.  Kitty quickly ran into the passenger side. 

"Okay, I need you to drive fast when I say because this takes a lot out of me."  Kurt nodded in completely understanding.  While he started the car, she placed both her hands on the dashboard and loosened her body up by rolling her shoulders.  She closed her eyes and relaxed herself into an intangible state, along with the car.  "Okay… go!"

Kurt wasted no time in flooring the car.  He was slightly worried about the unopened garage door they were about to run into, but he trusted Kitty and her powers to guide them right through.

They passed through the door like a fish in water.  As instructed, Kurt kept up the speed and saw the main gates in a matter of seconds.  He didn't say a word, just kept driving, hoping that they would phase through it like the garage door.  A second later they were on the other side.  "Stop the van," Kitty whispered, leaning back in her seat, one hand rubbing her temple.

Kurt slowed the van down and pulled off to the side of the roar.  "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she smiled.  "Just need to ease back into the whole tangible thing, ya know?"

He nodded, his hand resting on the back of her seat.  "Now that everything is calmed down again, tell me vhy ve're following Remy?"  She hadn't given him much of an explanation.

"Because he's following your sister.  I'm curious as to what they actually do with no one around to supervise."

"She doesn't tell you much of anyzing either, eh?"

Kitty looked at him, concern in her eyes.  "Why do I, like, detect a hint of sadness in that otherwise happy-go-lucky voice of yours?"

"With Rogue… you need to all but beg her to let you in, let alone talk to her.  I thought actually knowing my sister vould be great… but it hurts all the more since she's so far away."

"Aww, Kurt.  I really had no clue that you felt like that.  You've known about the whole Mystique/Rogue thing for so long now… why didn't you bring it up with her?"

He shrugged.  "I didn't know if it hurt her as much as it does me."

"Well," she smiled.  "When we find that girl, we're making sure you get some quality sibling talks in."

He shared her smile.  "Thanks, Kitty."  She gave him a hug.  "I knew you vould handle zis better than Evan would."

"That's what girls are for."

"Amanda said the same zing," he grinned.

"Now I know that girl's a keeper."  She laughed.  "Let's get going again, okay?  The sooner we find Remy, the sooner we find Rogue."

"You make it sound like she's in grave danger," he snickered.

"Please, we both know that 'trouble' and 'Rogue' are always in the same sentence."

"So, Sinister hasn't kidnapped you again yet?"

"Are you plannin' on it?"

"I am merely anticipating it."

Rogue was silent for a moment.  "Remy's petrified of him, Mystique.  He honestly has at least one nightmare a week 'bout what happened ta him before or what could have happened to us."

Mystique sighed.  "It's nice to see you concerned."

"Of course Ah am.  Ah get so worried 'bout Remy that Ah can't think 'bout anythin' or anyone else."

"What about Kurt?"

"What about him?"

"Do you worry about him?"

"… not as much as Ah should."  Rogue realized that she hadn't really spent time with her brother, let alone talked to him in a fairly decent amount of time.  "Ah find it hard ta talk ta him though."

"Why?"

"Because of you."

Mystique was stunned for a moment, but then it made sense.  She wanted to hear it from Rogue though.  "Me?" She played.  "Why?"

"You've cause so much damage ta both our lives, believe it or not," she answered haughtily.  "Lookin' at him reminds me of you -"

"Didn't us talking set all that straight?"

"It did, until I started flyin' or lifted up the car on the way home since we had a flat an' no jack.  You're mah mother, yes, an' Ah'll always feel some sort of urge ta just fohgive you, but Ah killed someone because you couldn't say no.  Somethin' happened in that castle ta Kurt because you couldn't say no.  Its just too much pain that neither of us have gotten over enough ta be real siblings."

"Even after all this time?"

Rogue shook her head slightly, avoiding Mystique's stare.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I left so things could be set right again?"

Rogue shrugged, still not meeting her mother's eyes.  "Ya told me ya left because of Magneto."

"I can leave for more than one reason."

"An' how do Ah know you're not sayin' that ta make me feel better?  You're a very manipulative woman, Mystique.  That's somethin' ya'll always be.  You can't just leave foh months an' expect ta come back changed."

"Why do you think I left?  Just so I could come back the exact same heartless bitch that I was when I left?"  Her voice rose with each word.  "I need some air."  Without another word, she stood up and walked in the direction of the kitchen, where Rogue assumed she would go out the backdoor.  Rogue sat on the couch, breathing shakily through her nose.  _Ya just can't let her in, can you?_

_If I were Roguey, where would I go…  Remy darted down the streets of Bayville, occasionally looking up.  He never did see a black dot up there.  Times like these he wished for some extra senses like Logan, but there was no way he was going to ask for his help in this.  It was just a friendly game of cat and mouse for Rogue and Remy, as it usually was.  And Remy did make a wonderful cat.  He grinned the metaphor.  No need to involve a huge search party, even though he had Kurt and Kitty on his tail as well._

He heard a motor behind him and rolled his eyes.  "Dey got me already," he muttered to himself.  Ignoring them for the moment, he remembered the task at hand.  Figuring they had his trail, he raced ahead.

"That wasn't too hard to find him."  Kitty pointed him out about 2000 feet ahead.

"Maybe he knew ve vere coming?"  Kurt suggested.

Kitty shrugged.  "Just keep on him.  If he knew we were coming then he wouldn't mind us to keep following."  It was then that Remy picked up his speed.  "Great.  He's going to wake someone up with the noise of that thing."

It was Kurt's turn to shrug.  "Who cares?  I'll keep on him."

Silence permeated through the van until a small giggle was heard.  Kurt and Kitty looked at each other at the same time.  "What was that," Kitty mouthed to him.  Kurt could only shake his head.  Kitty phased herself and slowly slid through her seat, and extended her arm towards the back seat.  She felt a shirt and pulled it forward.  "Hey!" yelped a voice, too small to be any one of the original recruits.

"Jamie?!"

He grinned and waved.  "Hi.  I heard you guys moving around and wanted to see what's up."

"How did you get in here without us noticing?" Kitty asked.  

"Now, if I'm going to be a spy, I can't tell you all my secrets, can I?"

"Mein Gott…" Kurt mumbled through gritted teeth.

"So what's the mission?"

"Mission?"  Kitty asked, as gently as possible.  Not that she didn't love the little guy, but seeing him and being responsible for him at this early in the morning was dragging the fun out of whatever they were supposed to be doing.

"Yeah!  You didn't leave the mansion this early to just go for a drive."

"Ze kid has a point, Kit."

"Quiet."

"Well?" Jamie pushed.

"Why don't you handle this one, Kurt?"

"Because I'm still hazy on vhy ve're even bothering to do zis."

Kitty cursed, in Hebrew so neither Kurt nor Jamie would understand her.  They assumed she said a tiny prayer for patience.  _Sure, she thought.  "Okay, Jamie, imagine it like this.  An evil spirit has possessed Rogue, and Remy is her valiant knight off to rescue her.  We are… umm, not her servants, but her watchers, yeah!  And we have to make sure they both come back in one piece."_

Jamie looked at her flatly.  "I'm twelve, Kitty, not six.  Fairy tales were so ten years ago."

Kitty glared at him.  "Fine.  Secret agents kidnapped Rogue by implanting experimental equipment in her head to cause her to go insane.  Remy, as always, is worried sick about her and plans to take out all the agents by himself.  Not that we don't trust Remy to handle all of them by himself, we're going along to make sure they don't get hurt."

"Now, couldn't you have just said that in the first place?"  Jamie smiled sweetly.

"No.  It's top secret.  I could be killed because I told you.  I hope you're proud of yourself."  Kitty said each word without an ounce of emotion.

His eyes filled with horror.  "Kitty… I-I didn't mean to!"

Despite her annoyance, she couldn't help but smile.  "That'll be your job, okay?  Making sure I don't get killed on account of you.  Can you handle that?"

"Of course!  I won't be responsible for something like that!"

"Good kid."

"I'm twelve, meaning I'm practically grown up.  If we're on a secret mission, I can't be addressed as 'kid'.  The enemy will see that as a weakness."

"Zis is going to be a long night," Kurt mumbled as he kept his eyes on the road.  Kitty heard him loud and clear and suppressed a groan.

Rogue sat in the Brotherhood living room for several minutes before becoming restless.  She glanced to the kitchen area at least five times before realizing that Mystique wouldn't be back any time soon.  She was not surprised in the least, as Mystique was always weak when it came to these sorts of matters.  She stood up, stretching out her sore muscles.  _Maybe Ah should be gettin' home…  She walked to the kitchen entrance and didn't see Mystique in sight.  "Of course," Rogue mumbled._

She started to walk in the opposite direction, but froze.  _Ah can't keep doin' this.  Befoh she left, Ah really thought we'd had a 'breakthrough' but then she was gone an' Ah just wanted a family again.  She never took the time ta talk ta Kurt, an' he needs it more than me at this point.  She chuckled.  __It would be very convenient if he an' his blue butt showed up here._

Remy stopped down the road from the Brotherhood manor.  He checked the park already, since Rogue likes to sit by the pond.  He also did a quick check of the trees.  Next on his mental list was her former home.  After Christmas, the seven of them had all grown a lot closer, so Remy figured her stopping off there, regardless if anyone was up, wasn't too out of the cards.  

He walked his motorcycle next to a bush, hiding it quite well in the shadows.  He glanced behind him, the van only a block away.  He figured he should just wait for them.  What was the point of making them follow them to the house, only to give away his position?  In his mind, they wouldn't be the best at slinking about.  

They pulled up next to him and turned the lights out.  Kitty rolled down her window.  "What made y' come out t' play?"

She shrugged.  "I couldn't sleep thanks to you two.  Thought I would see what you were up to."  

"Remy!"  Jamie bounced from the backseat.  "You're okay!  Where are the evil spies at?"

Remy's eyebrows furrowed.  "Care t' explain," he looked at Kitty and then Kurt, who could only roll his eyes.

Kitty looked at Jamie.  "You know that was just a way of shutting you up, right?"

Jamie stopped bouncing.  "Yeah… I know."  

"Jamie, c'mere.  Kitty's jus' makin' merde up."  Jamie opened the backdoor and climbed out.  "Now, tell me what Kitty tol' y'."  Jamie told him exactly what Kitty said.  "I see…"  He glanced to Kitty with a mere flicker of his red eyes.  She caught it and smiled weakly.  "In dat case, we better go save m'cherie, eh?"

Jamie looked up in the direction of the Brotherhood house.  "That doesn't look like a spy hideout."

"It's not.  It's where de Brotherhood lives.  If she's dere, dey must've intercepted de spies an' are holdin' her f'r us."  Jamie nodded. 

"Let's go then!"  He started off ahead of them, but Remy caught the back of his nightshirt.

He put a finger up to his lips.  "Shh… dey can' know we're here… dey, umm," he looked to Kitty for some help.

Kurt spoke up instead.  "If ve just show up, ze spies are sure to know ve're here."

"Dat's right."

"You guys are really going through a lot of thinking to make this fun for me, but you really don't need to."

Remy smirked.  "It's better dis way.  Wait'll Rogue hears it.  Now, mon ami, we mus' get t' de house undetected."

Jamie didn't want them to play the game for the sake of him so he just stood there straight faced, a small pout forming.  "Seriously.  Don't act all kiddy because of me."

"Jamie," Remy knelt down so he could more or less look him in the eye.  "Y' know how long it's been since I could act dis way?  Y' not gon' ruin it f'r me, whet'er y' play or not.  I'm goin' in dere t' rescue m'cherie, but I could use y' help."

The younger boy began to smile.  "What kind of spy would I be to let another one endanger himself?"

"Dat's de spirit, c'mon."  He waved to Kurt and Kitty, and they each exited the car by way of their powers, of course.  

"We're gonna have to be quiet, right?" Jamie asked.

"'Course."  Remy started moving ahead towards the house.  Jamie tried mimicking the movements he made, but without the necessary experience, he looked really funny.  Kitty held in a giggle as she simply strolled along, Kurt right behind her.

Rogue stepped lightly into the backyard and saw her mother sitting on a very shambled bench.  The wood was rotted by weather and gray even in the moonlight.  A half burned cigarette was poised between Mystique's fingers as she took another drag.  "Ah didn't know you smoked," Rogue said, startling her blue mother momentarily.

"Only when I'm stressed."  She laughed bitterly.  "I should have lung cancer by now, then."  She offered her pack to Rogue.  "Help yourself."

"No, thanks.  Never got into it."

"Good for you then."

"Yeah…"  The familiar awkward silence hung in the air again as thick as the humidity.  Rogue strolled to the bench so she could get a better look at Mystique.  "Ah was thinkin'… maybe Ah should go back to the institute an' get Kurt… Ah mean, a talk is long overdue for all of us."

Mystique put the cigarette out on the bench and looked up at Rogue, a sour smirk on her face.  "You really think talks are going to fix everything, my dear?  If it were that easy I would've shown up on Xavier's doorstep myself to put all this away.  It's facing the both of you at the same time that is so hard for me."

"If you saw us separately?"

"Seeing you doesn't seem to be all that difficult.  Kurt… I've probably associated with him 7 months total of his life.  He doesn't want to see me, regardless of the connection."

Rogue smiled faintly.  "Ah did get ta live with ya a bit, so that explains that.  From when Ah do talk ta Kurt, Ah really get the impression that he wishes things could have been different.  No one has told him about the testin' yet, but he knows somethin' is wrong.  If you two weren't interrupted that time, you could've told him all about it an' let him know where he comes from."

"I'm not his mother, though.  His mother lives with his father over in Germany.  They were everything I'll never be and more."  She sighed, pulling another cigarette out of the box.

"Ah never figured you ta be one ta beat herself up."

"I have my moments."  She lit it and took a nice long drag, savoring the nicotine running through her system.

"Ah got Remy ta quit smokin', Ah'll get you ta stop, too."

"What makes you think you'll see me often enough to have an effect?"  Mystique let the cig hang limply from her dark blue lips.

"You're leavin' again?  You were barely here!"

"I've always been here, Rogue.  It's just a matter of finding me."  She stood up and dropped the hardly burned cigarette, snuffing it out under her bare foot.  It burned against her skin, but she swallowed her pain and walked away from her daughter back into the house.  

"Where are you goin' now?" Rogue demanded.

"I don't even know anymore," Mystique said quietly without looking back.

Moments before, Remy had reached the side of the house, along with the others.  "What now?" Jamie asked in a very low whisper.

"I'm gon' go in an' get her."

"Maybe two of us should go in," Kurt suggested.

"That might not be the best plan," Kitty warned.  "Remy has better relations with them than we do.  Well, than you do anyway.  You go in, Rem, we'll stay here with Jamie while you go get her." 

"Go in through a window!" Jamie exclaimed in a loud whisper.  "That'll make it more fun."

Remy rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway.  "Fine.  Which one, den?  I don' know who's in each one so it'll be completely random."

Jamie pointed to one on the second floor.  Remy sighed inwardly but began trekking his way up.  He grabbed a hold of the gutter and pulled himself up.  He easily pushed up the window and slid in.  "Oh merde," he instantly mumbled.

"What the hell are **_you_** doing here?" Pietro growled, not happy in the least to see the Cajun X-Man.

"It's nice t' see y' too.  Roguey came in dis direction.  Jus' checkin' t' see if she's here."

"So you decided to check my bedroom.  I knew you were jealous of whatever flirtations me and her have shared, but this is just ridiculous."

"Don' get so uppity 'bout it.  Jamie picked out dis window."

"You brought the squirt?"

"He brought himself.  So did de Elf an' Kit."

"Christ, Remy, just bringing the whole institute with you."

"Dey followed me, homme.  I made dem wait outside.  Kitty had t' agree since I apparently have bett'r connections wit' y'."

"Which was before you appeared in my wonderful room."

"Oui, dat would be it."

"Lucky me."

"Lucky us.  Y' haven't seen her, dough?"

"She hasn't been up here.  I did hear Mystique talking to someone though."

"Mystique?!"  Remy's jaw just about hit the ground.  "Since when is she back?"

"Don't act like you're the only surprised one.  She showed up here earlier today unannounced."

"An' Rogue may have been talkin' t' her.  Bloody marvelous."

"… That's not something you would usually say."

Remy thought for a moment.  "Umm… lack of sleep?"  He could only shrug.  Where the hell had he heard that phrase?  He decided to let it go, since it really wasn't all that important.

"So why is it so bad if Rogue talks to Mystique?  She should talk to her mother.  It's about time."

"I couldn' agree wit' y' more, but when dey talk, it's dard t' tell if de conversation'll go bad or good."

"I never took you for a pessimist, LeBeau."

"Y' jus' lean not t' hope f'r too much at dis point."

"Funny," Pietro laughed, standing up.  "I have to agree with you on that one."  He grabbed a T-shirt from the floor and threw it on.   "Should we go check on her?"

"Oui, but not too quickly.  Maybe dey'er actually bein' civil."

"Doubt it, but fine, I can see what you mean.  No need to jump in on them and interrupt something that could potentially never happen again."  Pietro walked to the door, Remy following closely behind.

Kurt, Kitty and Jamie were standing below Pietro's window (remember, they didn't know it was his), not knowing a single thing that was going on.  "Maybe I should go in," suggested Jamie.

"Ohhh, no," Kurt said.  "I'll be ze next one going in."

"Aww, why?  I never get to do any of the fun stuff."  He pouted audibly.

"She's my sister.  It's only fair zat I get ze next try."  Kurt grinned, teeth flashing bright white against the dark blue of his fur in the moonlight.  "Which vay should I go in?"

Jamie remained pouting.  "I don't care.  Go in through the front door, it makes no difference now."

Kurt glanced to Kitty, who nodded sympathetically.  "Jamie," she said, laying a hand on his shoulder.  "Kurt can go through one side, and you and I will cover another."  She pointed to the window next to Pietro's.  "Let's try that one."

"I'll still go in ze front," Kurt joked.

Jamie smirked.  "I dare you."

"You're on," and with that, Kurt teleported away.

Kitty grabbed Jamie's hand, "C'mon."  She pulled him to the tree that stretched up to the window of their desires.  "You can climb, right?"

He nodded.  He punched himself in the arm, two duplicates falling out of his body.  "We can help," they said together.  Kitty smiled and shrugged.  While she began to climb the tree, the extra Jamies climbed on top of each other, and boosted one another up.

"Didn't I get you name tags for Christmas?" Kitty whispered, giggling.  They had stumbled a few times so there were twice as many Jamies as when they first started.  The Jamie highest on the tree grinned sheepishly.  "Forgot to put them in my pocket."

Kurt landed in the Brotherhood living room, practically on top of a person he thought he'd never see again – nor wanted to on his worst days.  "Mother?"

"Kurt?!  What are you doing here?"

"Who cares about vhy I'm here, vhat about you?!"

She smiled.  "Your sister didn't want to answer that either."

"So Rogue _is_ here.  Good," he sighed with relief.

"I didn't know you would be following her here."

"Kitty's idea," he said simply, the awkwardness of the situation finally hitting him.  Mystique fell silent as well, not sure what to say.

"I've missed you," she did manage to choke out.

Kurt wanted to retort something sarcastic as Rogue would have to these words, but his true emotions spilt over.  This was what he wanted – for her to show some true emotion herself and not just hide herself because her status as his enemy.  He couldn't just say he missed her back though.  He wasn't one to say all his feelings right away.  "Really?"  _Nice job, Furball._

Mystique's smile turned warmer.  "I did.  I don't think I got around to telling Rogue that."

"Vhere is she at?"

"Out back… if she's still there."

Rogue leaned against the kitchen wall next to the doorway, not actually as surprised as she thought she would have been to hear Kurt's voice.  She had floated in from the backyard so Mystique wouldn't have known she was there.  She listened to Kurt and Mystique, their reunion long overdue. 

"… if she's still there," she heard Mystique say.  _If that's not a cue ta show mahself, Ah don't know what is._

"Ah'm raht here," she said, right as she landed on the ground and walked out of the kitchen.  "Are you ready foh that talk now?"

"You say that as if I have a choice."

Rogue smirked.  "At least ya can pick up _that_ clue."  She looked past her mother and waved to Kurt.  "Hey," she smiled.  "Ah didn't know Remy required help in findin' me these days."

"I'll explain later," he grinned.  Bother seemed to look at Mystique the same time after their greetings, expecting her to take lead on where their long awaited talk should begin.

"Well, should we sit down or remain gawking at each other?" Mystique took a seat on the armed chair.  Rogue sat down on the couch, and Kurt did the same on the opposite end.

They sat there, glancing at each other, all completely oblivious on where to begin.  Rogue suddenly giggled; not in a girlish way, mind you, but there was no other way to describe the noise that erupted from her laugh.  "Ah'm sorry," she said, out of breath.  The giggle had last quite a bit.  It was ironic that she'd been awake because of a simple (in her words) nightmare, but had found it in herself to laugh as much as she did that night.  "Ah've wanted us ta do this foh months an' all we can do is gape at each other."

Kurt smiled.  "I don't see you attempting any sort of healing conversation, Roguey Roo."

Rogue froze.  She hated that nickname.  She glared at Kurt, which only made his smile wider.  "Give me one good reason Ah shouldn't knock you out."  Her hand twitched, reminding Kurt exactly how much clothing she _wasn't wearing and how much skin was exposed._

"You vouldn't dare," he countered.

She glared at him straight in the eyes for a long ten second before bursting out laughing.  "Ah know." 

Mystique watched her children interact and couldn't help but smile.  She'd dreamed of this day for so long.  She was weary of being cold blooded and heartless.  She just wanted to be with them and let them know that through it all, she loved them.

Rogue caught Mystique smiling in the corner of her eye.  She stopped laughing and looked at her.  "Ah don't think Ah'll ever get used to that smile."

"I smile all the time," she defended.

"Not like that though.  You look happy, not evil."  Rogue smiled.  Kurt watched Rogue talk to her and felt a twinge of envy.  He knew that his sister had talks with Mystique before.  He felt left out that Mystique had approached her first instead of him, that she knew before him that Mystique was her mother.  It made him think that Rogue was the favorite.  _I'm being really foolish about this.  The woman barely knows eizer of us and I'm pretended that ve sit down together every night._

"They sound like they're okay," Pietro whispered from the top of the steps.

"Oui.  Kurt let himself in de house, too.  One big happy family."

Pietro laughed.  "Now if only they knew who the dad was, they'd be good."

"Yeah, Rogue tol' me 'bout dat."  Remy shook his head.  "Damn Mystique."

"I always had the feeling she wasn't the most conservative person."

"Guess she's jus' got dat vibe 'bout her," Remy chuckled.  "We should leave dem be."

Pietro nodded.  "I guess you really have no reason to be here then.  You should get going."

"Why de big hurry?  I wanna see my buddies," Remy smirked.  "Besides, y' ain' gettin' rid of me dat easily."

"I knew I had the most rotten luck in the world."

"I still don' understand why y' pissed off at me.  I mean, it can' be de whole Rogue t'ing anymore, c'n it?"

Pietro simply shrugged, walking away from the top of the staircase.  "We've been over this before, Cajun.  No need to pick at old scabs."

"Fair enough.  Don' need t' be fightin' wit' y' when dis is deir moment." 

"Couldn't agree with you more."

"We gotta stop dis agreein' t'ing.  It's weird havin' t'ings in common wit' y'."

"It definitely is."

Kitty climbed in the window with ease, thanks to her powers.  She pulled a single Jamie in, since he had collected himself back together.  She glanced around, trying to figure out who's room they were in exactly.  A smile came to her face.  _Perfect_.

"It's Lance!" Jamie exclaimed joyfully.  "I missed him!"

"Huh, what?"  The aforementioned Brotherhood member woke up groggily and blinked around his room.  "Kitty?  Jamie?  What the hell are you two doing here?"

"And to think I thought you would've been happier to see me."  Kitty pouted.  She walked over to his bed and sat down.  Jamie turned away as she gave Lance a tiny peck on the cheek.  

"Ewww…"

Lance shushed him.  "Seriously, though.  What're you doing here?"  He glanced to the clock.

"We followed Remy here with Kurt because he was following Rogue."

"Ah, as always."

"See?  Everyone should know this by now."

"I told them before they couldn't be separated."

"I think it's sweet."

"You would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, offended.

"Well… I, umm…" he tried thinking of something to say.  "I know you're a sucker for the sweet stuff.  If I could get past the security system at Xavier's I would show up at your window, too."

Kitty smiled again.  "And even if you got by the system, there's still a matter of Rogue answering the window."

"Yeah, that, too.  But I think she's pretty understanding now so she would let me up."

She giggled.  "Sure.  If you say so."

"Hel-lo?  I'm still in the room here!"  Jamie stomped his foot, demanding attention.

"Why don't you go see Tabby?  She's missed you for a little bit."

"Ooh! Okay!  Where's her room?"

"Down the hall, last one on the left.  Don't mention to her how small it is.  After Mysti came back, she got the boot for one of the smallest rooms."  Jamie left, the comment not affecting him at all.

"Mystique's back?" Kitty all but shrieked.  "Since when?"

"Earlier today.  She's different, obviously.  I can't tell whether it's bad or good."

"Oh, God, what if Rogue talked to her?"  Kitty started to get up from the bed, but Lance gently grabbed her wrist.  She didn't struggle against it like she had done so many times before.  

"They need it.  And besides, Remy and Kurt can go look for her, right?" He said slyly.

Kitty bit her lip.  "I suppose…" she giggled.

Jamie walked down the hall, counting the doors.  He really wasn't watching where he was going, and neither was Pietro.  Before either could react, Jamie was on the floor from the impact with Pietro, seven of him tumbling down the hallway in separate directions.  Three of the Jamies fell into three different doors, two fell down the steps, and the main Jamie and the last two were tangled with Pietro.  "Ouch…" all of the mumbled simultaneously.

"You can say that again."

Remy barely avoided being knocked down the steps.  He jumped up and held himself up above the ground by extending his limber legs on either side of the wall and keeping them locked.  The two Jamies rolled on down the steps, creating three more.

"What the hell?" Rogue and Mystique said at the same time, hearing the noise from the living room.  Rogue got up from the couch first, followed by her brother then mother.  "Jamie?!  What're you doin' here?!"

All five Jamies were quite dazed.  "We fell and went boom," said the Jamie on the lowest step.  

Rogue smiled and knelt down near the one that talk.  Carefully, she ruffled his hair.  "Ya gonna be okay, sugah?"

They all nodded.  "Yes, Roguey."

"Good, boys."  She glanced up the stairs.  "Remy!  Ah wished Ah coulda clocked how long it took ya ta find me this time, but Ah fohgot mah stopwatch."  She motioned to her naked wrist.

He showed her his wrist.  "Brought mine.  I could do bett'r."

"Ya mean ya still haven't beaten yoah record of ten minutes an' 13 seconds?"

"Non.  I will one of dese days, dough."   He got down from the wall and stepped over the jumbled Jamies cautiously.  "I brought y' some stuff."  He reached inside his duster and pulled out a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of gloves.

"Ooh," Rogue grinned as she quickly put them on.  "Jus' what Ah needed."  She gave him a hug.  "Ya always know what Ah need." 

"'Course."  He glanced beyond Rogue to Kurt and Mystique.  "I didn' really expect y' t' be havin' a family moment t'night when all o' dis happened…"

"Maybe the nightmare's a blessin', heh."

"Nightmare?" Mystique quipped.  She looked to Kurt for some sort of explanation, but he could only shrug.

Rogue bit her lip.  "Oops, didn't wanna mention that."  She turned to Remy.  "Do ya mind helpin' him up an' gettin' back upstairs?"

Remy smiled.  "Not at all.  Jamie?" He called up the steps to the original.  "Pull y'self t'gether, homme."  

After a weak 'okay' was heard, the Jamie heap on the steps dissolved.  A few doors could be heard opening upstairs.  "What happened out here, yo?  Someone knocked an' woke me up."

"You heard that, too?" Fred yawned.  "Whoa, what's the kid doing here?"

"I am not a kid!" Jamie said vehemently.  He stomped his foot for effect, which of course, brought on more duplicates.

"I t'ink I'll go upstairs…" Remy said, running up and leaving Rogue and what could be considered by standards her family alone once again.  Tabitha could then be heard squealing with happiness when she saw Jamie.

"Rogue, come sit down again," Mystique said, leading her and Kurt back into the living room in an attempt to faze out the voices upstairs.  "What nightmare were you talking about?"  Kurt looked intrigued as well.

"Ah don't know how ta explain it, really.  Ah fohget it every time Ah wake up."

"You don't remember a single thing?"

Rogue shook her head.  "Notta thing."

Mystique looked away, thinking on her own.  "Was it something like when you were having that reoccurring nightmare with me?"

"Ah.don't.know!  How many times do Ah hafta say that Ah don't remember it!"

"Or," Kurt suggested quietly.  "You don't vant to remember it."

"What's that supposed ta mean?"

"Maybe your mind is replaying something for you, and you're not villing to admit vhat's going on, or somezing, I don't know." He shrugged.

"No, you're onto something, Kurt," Mystique said.

Rogue glared at the two of them.  "What could possibly be goin' on in mah head that Ah wouldn't wanna let mahself know?"

"I might know something…" Mystique whispered.

"Oh, great.  Lemme guess… Was Ah genetically tested on, too?  Ah'm jus' bettin' ya'll say that!" 

"In a matter of terms, you weren't…"

"What is that s'posed ta mean?"  Rogue cradled her head in her hands.  "It just runs in the family, doesn't it?"

"It's not what you think."

"Really?  Enlighten me, then," Rogue spat.

"You know why _I'm_ scared of Sinister?"

"What does this hafta do with him?"

"That time that you were captured by him with Remy, it wasn't your first confrontation with him."

"What!?"  At this point, everyone was standing at the top of the steps, Remy keeping a firm arm across Jamie in order to keep him from falling down the steps.  Todd, Fred, Tabitha, Pietro and the two X-Men stood with their ears perked.

"Sinister?" Tabitha whispered lightly.

Remy's eyes could only burn red.

"When was Ah with him befoh?" Rogue tried to keep her voice from showing any emotion, but everyone could clearly hear the slight shaking in her voice.  She didn't want to hear what Mystique was about to tell her, but she knew she had to.

Mystique swallowed loudly.  "He abducted you one time, when you lived with Irene.  She had called me about a vision she had had involving you and a man.  I usually listen carefully to her visions, but this time I thought nothing of it…"  She took a deep breath.

"How old was Ah?" Rogue asked in a small voice.

"Seven."

"What happened ta me?  What did he do ta me?"

"He took you in the middle of the night… one of his people did.  The others kept Irene out of commission until they brought you back before dawn."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"  Rogue shouted standing up.  "What did he do ta me?"

"I wish I knew.  That man is a monster."

"No, shit."  She sat back down feeling as if her knees would come out from under her.  She slumped onto the couch in a dazed heap.  Kurt instinctively pulled her into a hug, careful always of her skin.

"Irene initially couldn't remember the incident.  They drugged her somehow.  But then she foresaw you and Remy getting captured but knew the outcome was positive, so she never mentioned it to me until after you left Caldecott that time.  She told me about you being kidnapped when you were younger then too."

"How could she not tell me?" Rogue sobbed.

"Tell you?  She didn't want you to be like this… and she didn't foresee nightmares."

"So now we're going to assume mah nightmare relates back ta this?  That's a bit of a jump if ya ask me."

"What else could it be?"  Kurt asked.  "Godzilla sized rabbits?" He harshly joked.  No one laughed.  Rogue just pulled herself more to Kurt's nightshirt.

"Ah need ta know what's goin' on."  She got up suddenly and headed for the door. 

"Where are you going?"

"The institute.  Ah'm gettin' this solved."

Everyone on the steps silently gasped at every ounce of information they heard.  Remy, though, couldn't decide whether he wanted to scream or cry.  His Rogue… in the clutches of that maniac, defenseless.  He felt her get up and head for the door.  Without thinking, he went down the stairs.  "Chere, wait."  She kept walking, tears stinging in her eyes.  He found a burst of energy in him and caught up to her before she dared to fly.  "Wait!"  His hand clamped down on her covered wrist.

She wrenched out of his grasp, surprisingly not hurting him with her strength.  She finally met his eyes and couldn't decide who was hurting more, him or her.  The pain literally oozed out his eyes in the form of red flame.  Her slim body was wracked with shivers, salty trails of tears running down her face.  "Oh, Remy," she breathed, lips trembling.

He opened his arms and she graciously walked into them.  The look on her face before she buried her head into Remy's chest would be one he would never forget.  She looked lost, confused, angry, and afraid all in one.

"Why, Remy?"

"I dunno, chere," he murmured, feeling empty as he said it.  He started walking her in the direction of his motorcycle.  "We'll get t'rough dis."

"What could he have done ta me?"

Remy was silent for a moment.  He thought of one answer, and it wouldn't be something she would like hearing, but he said it anyway.  "I couldn' even begin t' tell y' what he could've done."

Rogue nodded, her face contorted with anguish.  "Ah need ta know," she repeated.

"De prof'll know what t' do."  Rogue nodded again, unable to speak again without sobbing abruptly.  They reached his bike in a few achingly slow moving minutes.  Remy sat on first, pushing himself back a bit.  He was afraid that Rogue would be too weak to hold on to him.  Not that she would hurt herself if she fell off, but Remy feared for her nonetheless.  She crawled onto the bike, bracing her arms low on the handlebars.  Remy quickly started the motorcycle and took off.  This was one night of Cat and Mouse they would never forget.

TBC…


	2. Failing Her

**What Dreams Are Made Of**

Part 2

Remy rode back to the mansion as fast as he dared.  He felt Rogue shivering beneath him, and he knew it wasn't from the rush of air gliding by her.  Her hands held on to the handlebars strongly.  Remy feared if she tightened her grip anymore he would need to invest some money in new ones.  The ride was silent with the exception of the air.  It was a hollow echo in Rogue's ears; something she could hear, but then not.

Just like the sound of the air, she was thinking of so much and then of nothing at all.  Her thoughts swirled around incoherently in her head, nothing piecing together in the least.  A tiny whimper escaped her trembling lips, mostly concealed by the rush of air.  Remy felt it though, and it was like tearing out his heart and running it over with his motorcycle.

They reached the mansion and Remy stopped his bike quickly without it toppling over.  He climbed off and helped Rogue, who insisted on walking herself.  She took a few steps with her arms wrapped around herself, cold to the core.  She felt cold and sour, just like Sinister's breath.  Just like death.  She looked up at Remy, who was staring down at her with such concern in his eyes, so much love.  She extended her hand to him, which he gratefully took.  "Do ya think the professor is even up?" She whispered.

"Hard t' say.  Whet'er he is or not, he's gon' be now."

Her question was answered when they stepped inside the doors.  They were unlocked.  Remy didn't use his scrambler this time, so the security system was either turned off completely, or the defenses were inactive.  The professor, Ororo, and Logan stood waiting for them.  Each had a characteristic look on his or her face.  Xavier sat with his head propped on the steeple of his fingers, willing to give them a chance to explain themselves.  Ororo's eyebrows were knitted with a little anger, but she was nonetheless calm.  Logan, on the other hand… was Logan.  His mouth was curled into a snarl.  Remy noticed Evan sitting on the couch behind them.  He was half asleep, as if he'd been dragged downstairs.

"Do you two have somethin' ta say about this?" Logan growled.  "We're missing Kitty, the Elf, and Jamie, too.  Know anythin' about that?"

It was then that Xavier felt the anguish radiating off of Rogue.  "Back down, Logan.  Rogue, what is the matter?"

Her estranged gaze met that of Xavier's, and then flickered back to Remy.  His red eyes blinked, telling her to go ahead.  She nodded, her lips trembling still.  They felt blue and cold.  She couldn't stop herself from the cold that racked her body.  She wanted to hold her appearance up.  She hadn't felt so weak since Carol and that horrid mess.  She was about two seconds from completely losing it.  "Ah had a bad dream," she managed to whisper.

Ororo, too, could feel vibes coming off of her.  She felt the air thicken as Rogue's words crawled over to their side of the room.  She took a few light steps towards Rogue.  With a glance to Remy, she knew that he wasn't feeling great either, and it wasn't just because Rogue was upset.  She extended her hand to Rogue.  "Come on, child.  Do you need to talk about it?"

Rogue nodded weakly and accepted Ororo's hand.  The weather goddess led her away from Remy.  Rogue spared a glance back towards him, and he nodded gravely.  "Go on, chere."  He let her be taken away, deciding it was best if she didn't have a large crowd.  He wished he could hold her hand to help her out, but he was on the brink of combustion._ Dat monster… dat fuckin' monster.  I'll kill him now - harmin' a damn seven-year-old girl._  His hands burned as his anger built, causing them to glow bright orange.

Logan watched him silently, waiting for him to explode.  He finally said something that Remy chose not to listen to.  Remy didn't respond in any way either.  He just turned and walked out of the door.  It would be better if he didn't make a mess indoors.

Rogue numbly sat down in the library, idly wondering how Remy was feeling.  If there was anything she could focus her thoughts on, it was he and his safety.  She wished it was his hand holding her own, but Ororo was comforting enough.  _She must've taken a bath befoh she went ta bed… she smells like flowers.  It's soothin'_.

She was happy to divert her train of thoughts off for that brief second, but the moment she looked at the professor, she remembered why she was sitting where she was.  "Rogue," Xavier began.  "Tell me why you look so distraught."

"Want me ta start from the beginnin'?" He nodded affirmative.  She then told him about the night: waking up, flying, ending up at the Brotherhood house, talking with Mystique, etc, etc.  "Then she told me that Ah was kidnapped foh a night by Sinister."

Ororo suddenly tightened her grip on Rogue's hand.  Xavier's eyebrows rose in utter surprise.  "Sinister… as in Mr. Sinister?"

Rogue laughed despite herself.  "The one an' only, hun."

"Oh, dear," he murmured.  He closed his eyes a moment as if to collect his thoughts and then met Rogue's gaze.  "Would you mind if I took a look inside your mind?"

"That's why Ah'm here.  Ah need ta know.  Ah wanna know what the hell he did ta me."

He nodded.  "This is going to sound like a hefty request, but I need you to relax."

She wrinkled her nose.  "Ah'll try."  

"Just breathe deep, Rogue," Ororo said from her side.  She demonstrated by closing her eyes and taking in a breath, holding it for about 10 seconds and then releasing it, nice and slow.  "You try."

Rogue pursed her lips, but then figured she should.  She closed her eyes, letting them just flutter shut.  She breathed in deep through her nose and focused on holding it long enough without making herself lightheaded.  She'd had enough training in everything that breathing should've been a breeze, but something about thinking about how she was breathing made everything more difficult.  She counted to herself, realizing last second that she wasn't thinking about Sinister for that long moment.  She scared herself and had to redo the entire exercise of breathing with a little coaxing from Ororo.  

Xavier raised his hands to hover over Rogue's temples.  With a minute psychic shove, he pushed himself into her mind.  He glanced around to look for the Rogue inside herself, but didn't see her right away.  "Rogue?"

"Hi," she said simply from behind the standing psychic form of her teacher.  Her own psychic form wore a long, black dress that looked to be from the Renaissance era.  The dress was tattered along the skirt as if she'd run through a thick brush of thorny bushes.  Charles glanced down and saw the tips of her black polished toenails.  

He smiled.  "Interesting choice of wardrobe."

She shrugged. "It's flowy.  An' it looks cool when Ah fly," she smirked.  "Like a fallen angel."

"That would be you, my dear.  Would you like to show me what you could?"

"Ah'll try."  She took a second glimpse of her apparel.  "This dress is actually from the dream, too.  Ah just remembered that."

"Do you remember anything of Sinister?"

She shook her head, causing her slightly curled hair to bounce around her head.  "Ah can't think of how this dress and Sinister are connected.  Especially if it happened when Ah was seven."

Xavier thought for a moment.  "You played as a child, right?"

"O' course.  Ah didn't start keepin' ta mahself 'till junior high."

"All right, then."

"What are ya thinkin' of?"

"Just testing some options in my head.  If anything becomes blatantly clear, you'll be the first to know."

"Sometimes Ah fohget you have a slight sense of humor."

"I am human, too, Rogue.  Just remember that."

She smirked.  "That shouldn't be too hard."  She had begun leading him aimlessly towards the more secretive part of her mind.  Usually, she would never let _anyone_ see this, but drastic times call for drastic measures.  She was willing to do just about anything to find out what the hell had happened to her.

"You mind is looking better since the last time I've been here," Xavier commented as they walked.  Before, her mind had been dark and foggy - full of nothing and everything.  Now, it was clear, as if almost easier to breathe in.  The atmosphere was tinted green, with twinkling silver butterflies flying just out of reach.  The professor looked around, curiously and almost eagerly.  _She's come so far in her time with us_, he noted to himself.  The personas she had absorbed were safely knit in cocoons along the field of her mind, no doubt made by the butterflies dancing in the air around them.

One fluttered close enough for Charles to see that it was made of pure energy.  It had silver veins crackling with energy that just ached to be released.  "Don't reach foh it," Rogue warned softly.

"Why is that?"  He was actually thinking of doing so until Rogue spoke up.

"That's how the people are trapped.  Ah'm not sure if you could touch 'em since you're not an imprint, but Ah wouldn't try it."

"Interesting," he said, backing away from the closest one.

"They act all beautiful an' mysterious so whoever's been in mah head thinks it'll be safe ta touch 'em."  She shook her head.  "No way.  Once one touches ya, the rest of 'em swarm in.  The result is what ya see everywhere."  She waved daintily her hands towards the landscape.  A butterfly flew near her arm and landed on her shoulder.  To Charles, it seemed to feed off her, though she physically showed no signs of fatigue from the drain.  She smiled and blew at it to leave her shoulder.

Charles watched in amazement.  "That doesn't hurt?"

She shook her head.  "They comes to me with the power of whoever Ah've just absorbed.  It usually all instantaneous, ya know, Ah absorb, an' in a split second's amount of time, they've got the person trapped in web an' they transfer it ta me.  That li'l bugger saved some foh me though."

"Does it happen often?"

"Yeah.  It's like bein' shot up with caffeine.  Ah can't stop it when they come after me.  When stray ones come after me long after Ah've touched someone, it gets a spark inside me, remindin' me what Ah've done an' really only gives me a memory or two that Ah missed befoh."  Xavier nodded, absorbing it all.  _Knowing this information does make future things possible_, he thought with a smile.  "That one was from awhile ago," she added.  Then she shivered.  "From Blockbuster."

"Blockbuster?  One of Sinister's Marauders?"

She nodded sadly.  "Ah think Mystique was raht about the nightmares bein' about him.  Ah got one from Slab the other night."  She walked a bit ahead of him, a trail of slashed clothing behind her.  "Do ya have any idea why this is comin' out now?"

He shook his head.  "I'm sorry, Rogue.  Though I may be able to figure out more with more information."

"You wanna look at mah dreams?"

"Yes."

"But where would they be?  Ah haven't remembered a dream in so long.  Well, Ah do, but sometimes Ah can't tell if they're mah own or someone else's so Ah push them outta mah head completely."

"And you don't know where they are?"

She shrugged.  "The only place Ah can think of is the Cellar."

"The Cellar?"

"Ah imagined this old shack past all the cocoons.  Ah call it the Cellar.  Maybe they went there."

"How could you imagine it but not know if things went there?"

"That's where Ah put Carol.  Ah don't know if anything else follows.  Ah never go in there.  Ah'm so scared that she might hear me from her side of her cage an' start screamin'.  Ah can't think if Ah can hear her.  It's bad enough thinkin' she's in there all alone."

"I see," Xavier gave her a moment to relax.  Talking about Carol always strung her emotions up a bit.  He put a hand on her covered shoulder.  "Can you show me?"

She nodded somberly.  "It's this way."  She started walking again, weaving herself and the professor in and out of the rows of cocoons.  The butterflies seemed to flutter by in suspicion, but gave Rogue the room she needed.  Xavier took a moment to examine one of the cocoons.  It was glowing red from underneath.

"Whom does this one belong to?"

Rogue turned and floated back to him.  Walking made her so tired sometimes.  She took a brief look at the cocoon.  "Oh, that's one of Scott's."

"One of them?"

"Ah've touched him a couple times.  Foh some reason the butterflies don't put more than one persona in a cocoon, even though it's the same person.  Ah figure it's because they'll fight or somethin'."

"That makes sense."

"Yeah, Jean's got a couple 'round here, too."  She pointed to a rather large one.  "There's Jamie's."

"His is so big," Charles commented.

"Maybe he keeps bumping into the walls an' multiplying, Ah have no idea."  She pointed to two more large ones.  "Those two are Freddy's."

"Blob?"

"Yeah.  Ah think he may have another one around here somewhere, Ah can't remember.  Ah try not to spend too much time here."  She started to float away again, only keeping herself about two inches off the ground.

Charles followed her.  "You don't come here usually?"

She looked over her shoulder.  "Ah spend too much time in consciousness ta come here.  If Ah were ta meditate, Ah probably could, but it hurts, ya know?"

He nodded.  He followed her hovering form past the cocoons into where a circle of them had formed, just like a gate.  "There's no one in these," she answered before he could ask.  "Cody's near here though."

"Which would make sense."

"It does, doesn't it." It wasn't a question.  She said it flat and sarcastically in order to quiet the professor.  Not that she didn't appreciate what he was trying to do, but he talked too damned much.

He got the hint and reluctantly kept his mouth shut.  Her mind was an amazing place with all it's literal imagery instead of the usual flashes of occurrences he'd seen in everyone else's.  It was hard for him not to ask questions.  He settled for just following her floating form in silence once again.

They reached the shack, which from the outside appeared to have water-warped wood, rusty hinges, protruding nails, the works in the ugly department.  Rogue carefully turned the tarnished doorknob; afraid she might break it off.  She was also afraid of stepping inside.  She swallowed her emotions and slowly pushed the door open.  

Once she opened the door, Charles bit back a gasp.  Inside was much different.  It looked to be the size of a three-bedroom apartment (without separating walls), but with hardwood floors and lilac painted walls.  It actually looked like it could be a comfortable place to meditate to until Charles saw the cemented cage in the corner.  It stuck out like a deformed mole on an otherwise perfect face.  The cement had turned a dingy gray with time.  Rogue took a single glance towards it and had to look away.

"That would be her," she pointed dismissively.  Xavier nodded and remained speechless.  "See that hole over there?"  She motioned to one in the wall about five feet from Carol's cage.  "That's the only way they could've come in here."  Her voice was uncharacteristically soft, as if she were trying to conceal her presence in case Carol was to hear.

"Any idea where they would have gone after coming in that hole?"

She shrugged.  "That's why we're here, ain't it?"

"Very true."  He took in as much of the room as he could with just looking.  "Why do you call this the Cellar when it looks like this?"

"It seemed appropriate.  This place is uncomfortable ta me.  I hate lilac; it's too light, the floors are too cold under bare feet, an' that stupid fuckin' cage is the most obvious thing in this whole place!"  She bit her lip when she realized her obscenity.  "Sorry 'bout that."

He smiled.  "Don't worry about it.  Let's concentrate on finding those dreams, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan ta me," she said, sighing with relief.  The idea of concentrating made things better.

Remy released his anger on some unfortunate pebbles by the main road that led the gates to the mansion.  He threw each one with such force that his arm responded with a pain close to that of it dislocating.  A rush of wind went by and stopped on his side facing the institute.  "What d'ya want, homme?" He asked his 'arch-nemesis', otherwise known as Pietro.

"I think this is one time we can put out rivalry aside," the quickster replied in a flat tone similar to Remy's.

It was then that the Cajun turned and faced Pietro.  His eyes were blazing a brighter red than Pietro had ever seen; he was surprised he hadn't seen it by staring at Remy's profile.  What surprised him even more were the tear trails down Remy's chiseled cheekbones.  The color from his eyes reflected in such a way that he appeared to be crying blood.

"Oh, shit, man.  I didn't realize - "

"Save it, please.  Y'll understand if I'm not m' usual charmin' self t'night."

"Thanks for the heads up," Pietro responded after a pause.  He stood for a moment before awkwardly placing a hand on Remy's shoulder.  Remy hadn't anticipated such an action, but shockingly didn't recoil away.  "Everyone's on their way.  Mysti's riding back with your people, mine are in the jeep." 

"Are dey worried sick?"

"Yeah…" His voice fell.  "Todd looked ready to scream.  Fred had to hold him a bit to get him to calm down.  Tabby busted in on Lance and Kitty to fill them in - also scarring herself for life in the process, but yes, everyone is worried."  The thought of anyone walking in on the unusual occurrence of a Lance and Kitty make-out session brought a small smile to Remy's face.  Pietro caught the expression himself and mirrored Remy's face.

Remy dropped the tiny smile and sighed.  "She never knew so many people cared 'bout her," he said idly.

"She'll know after everyone beats the shit out of that sick bastard."

Remy pulled out of Pietro's reach, his hands balled into fists.  "I want not'in' more den t' snap dat fucker's neck an' feed him t' some vicious animal - an' den wait f'r de damn t'ing t' shit so I know he's dead."  He stopped for a moment.  "But I'm so scared," he admitted softly.  "Petrified is a better word."

It took everything in Pietro's lack of self-control for his jaw not to drop and/or throwing the comment back in Remy's face in the form of taunts for actually admitting a weakness.  He knew this was hard for the Cajun though.  All he could manage neutrally was "Why?"

"B'cuz I know what he's about.  Dat time he had me an' Rogue in Seattle, he let us go.  He has the team power t' defeat us.  I know him.  When I was younger, I t'ought gettin' 'way from him was de craftiest t'ing I'd ever done.  I t'ought I was free forever.  How fuckin' naïve c'n a 14-year-old be?  Now - I live ev'ryday, holdin' Rogue's hand, hopin' an' prayin' we won't ever be as dumb as we were dat night.  I hoped dat she never had t' face him 'gain, when I knew de threat was anyt'in' but idle for me.  Dis whole t'ing just fucks up ev'ry wish I've had f'r de last months… because I couldn' save her den.  I jus' want her t' be safe, an' I couldn' protect her from him.  I fuckin' failed her." He said the last sentence through gritted teeth.  They both heard the gates open in the distance, signaling the arrival of the two vehicles with their combined nine passengers.

Pietro thought for a second on what he could possibly say to that long monologue.  "Remy…" he started.  "There was no way you could've known.  All of us wish we could do something to change the past to make things better for the people we care about, but it's just not doable.  Everyone has their screwed up pasts, whether it's their fault or not." _Even me_, he added mentally.

Remy snorted.  "Y'r not makin' me feel bett'r, if dat's what y'r attemptin'."

"For the record, in the case of Rogue and her sanity, I would be there to help you if needed it, no matter what.  I know you wanna say that I couldn't begin to know what kinda power the asshole has, but it's good to have allies against him in the event you'll need them.  And I'm all but positive the others would say the same."

Remy looked him hard in the eye before sighing.  "Merci, mon ami.  I truly appreciate dat."  He stuck out his hand.  It was that or hug him - and things were already awkward enough.

Pietro accepted the handshake heartily.  He smirked.  "I'm only there if you really need me.  In the case of Rogue though, whatever she needs, I'll always be there to help."

"Gotcha, homme," Remy grinned in exchange.

"This is useless," Rogue said in a smaller tone than she wanted to.  They'd been searching for who knows how long and hadn't found a thing.

"Anywhere else we could probably look?"

Rogue was on the complete opposite side of the room from Carol while Charles was off the middle of it.  There were little chests and cabinets placed everywhere in the room, as if it really were a storage room.  Rogue pointed to the cage.  "She may have an answer."

Charles looked at the cage.  It still looked pretty concrete without any holes and such, but then again, he didn't examine it closely.  He walked over slowly, catching a glimpse of Rogue backing away.  "Be careful," she warned, her voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded and continued his way to the cage.  Rogue pushed herself against the corner directly opposite the cage, not feeling safe even at that distance.  She wanted to run out of the house and have the butterflies swarm around her; protect her with their shimmering energy wings.

Charles kneeled on the floor next to the cage.  "I think I may have found the hiding place of your dreams." There was a hole so small that if he wanted to, he couldn't even insert his pinky finger.  He put his eye up to it and saw blue.  Blue?  After staring at it curiously for a moment, the blue blinked.  Blinked?  It was an eye.  Charles own brown eyes widened at the realization.

"Hiya, Charlie," a voice rasped from inside.

The car ride back was sickeningly silent.  Kurt drove, with Mystique in the passenger seat.  Kitty willingly sat in the back with Jamie.  Even though the woman was the mother of two of her teammates, she didn't trust her one bit.  And poor Jamie was confused to hell.  He'd never met Mystique in battle or even seen her as principal of the high school (not that he would have if he came sooner to the institute, since he's a junior high student _and_ home schooled, but that's besides the point).

Mystique nervously sat in her natural form, hand wringing noticeably in her lap.  She had formerly gotten her nails manicured for the hell of it, even though she could damn well make her hands look great without spending the money.  Regardless, the fine nails had been chipped and bitten at since Rogue had stepped foot inside the house earlier.  Nail biting is a habit Mystique would never openly admit to, either.

_How could I have never told her?  It was almost impossible for me to sit there in Irene's living room, listening to her tell me that monster had gotten her not even a week before._  She sighed shakily, catching Kurt's glance out of the corner of her eye.

"Do you know vhat happened und didn't tell her?" Kurt asked quietly.

"I wish I did," Mystique answered just as quietly.

"How could Irene not remember it?"

"She was drugged.  I said that already."

"He vould know how because he's a geneticist, right?  Und he knew all ze stuff with her DNA makeup und ozer stuff zat I don't necessarily understand."

"Yes, though the point is that he's had your sister twice and I couldn't stop it either time.  If I had just listened to Irene that time so long ago, both of them could have probably been avoided."

"You can't blame yourself for the actions of anozer," Kurt whispered.  "No matter how bad it feels."

She fully looked at Kurt then, feeling as if it were only he and she in the car.  Tears welled up in her eyes.  _Did he just - in a way - forgive me about the castle incident?  No, that would be too soon.  I'm looking too far into it._  "I still feel like I failed her.  Just like I failed you."

Kurt took a moment to look her straight in the eye.  "I know you're sorry about vhat happened.  I know zat nozing will probably make me feel better about zat whole zing."  He turned back to the road.  "But I do like ze life I've lived.  My parents in Germany… zey're great."

"You were better off with them."

"I von't disagree vith you on zat one, but I've always vanted to know und be with my real family, you know?"

"I know."

He sighed.  "It vas Magneto's fault back at ze castle, und it vas his fault with Rogue und Carol."

"How do you know you're not placing the blame on the wrong person with both of those scenarios?"

"Are you purposely trying to make me hate you?" Kurt suddenly growled, his voice louder than it had been the entire conversation.  Kitty was listening the entire time, sunken back in her seat with Jamie, who still didn't understand a single thing.  Both were shocked at his outburst.

Mystique lowered her head.  "No.  But I don't feel like I deserve any easy ways out of making things better between the three of us."

"Then why did you come back?  It's like you're giving up.  Just why bother?"  Kurt kept a firm gaze on the road, signaling to everyone that he was through talking.  They approached the gates and they opened without any sort of identification code.  The van slowly drove insides, catching sight of Remy and Pietro ahead.  Kurt glanced in his rear view mirror and saw Lance's jeep still behind them.

He drove past the two boys standing off to the side and parked by the front fountain.  Lance followed and did the same.

"I guess we should follow them," Pietro said as Remy threw another pebble.  It exploded before it hit the ground.

"Y' c'n.  I t'ink I should spend some more time out ehre."  To prove his point, he bent down and picked up another pebble.  He didn't even have to concentrate to send the power it needed to change its potential energy to kinetic.  With a grunt, he threw it hard.  Very hard.  "Putain," he cursed as his left hand grasped his right shoulder.

"Dammit, Remy, now you've done it."

"Done what?" A female voice asked.  Pietro and Remy looked up from inspecting his shoulder to see Tabitha, worry etched across her face.  Lance, Fred and Todd were not far behind her.  Remy glanced up to see Kurt leading Mystique, Kitty and Jamie into the house.

"An' now de real fun begins," Remy stated without humor.

Rogue cringed at the sound of her voice.  It sounded like she may have permanently broken a vocal chord or something with how she was talking.  _Too much screamin'_, Rogue thought harshly.

Charles had not answered Carol yet.  "Is there something you wanted, Professor?" Carol asked, voice cold and raspy.

"…How are you, Carol?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Both Rogue and Carol said, eerily at the same time.  "Roguey?" Carol called.  "Is that you?" She knew of course that it was Rogue.  She did intend to play with her a bit though to make this all the sweeter.  Charles rose up and Carol shouted, "Hey! I wasn't done talking to you yet!"  He walked over to Rogue, who was leaning rigidly against the wall.  He was afraid it would fall from behind her since she couldn't possibly push herself into it any further without doing so.

"You should ask her," Charles said.

"Are you insane?  Ah can't go over there!"

"I can hear you, yanno."

Normally, if it was anyone else, Rogue would have retorted accordingly.  But she could only lower her voice.  "Ya can't be serious."

"She's not on good terms with either of us."

"But you didn't kill her!"

"True.  Rogue, listen to me.  I know this seem harsh, but you can't run from this.  These are **your** dreams that she could possibly possess.  You need to be the one to get them back, not me."

Rogue snorted.  "Easier said than done."

"By a long shot.  Just go.  I will be right here if you need me."

"That's reassurin'," she mumbled.  _Todd was raht,_ her thoughts flickering back to Christmas.  _Xavier is **just** like Dr. Finkelstein._  Slowly, she trekked over to the cage.  It seemed to take an incredible amount of effort to lift up her feet to take each step.

She finally reached it and kneeled down.  "I though you'd never get here."

Rogue's gray green eye gazed wearily at Carol's bight blue one.  "Fohgive me if Ah don't seem overly anxious 'bout this conversation."

"I'll just add it to the list of things I'll get you back for when I get out of here," she said menacingly.

"Ah dunno about you, but Ah really don't wanna spend any more time in here."

"You say that as if I have an option of leaving.  Come on!  We should be, like, best buds by now.  We've lived together for _how_ long now?"

"Ah don't need a roommate in mah head."

"I wouldn't say it as if I've been cramping your style.  You locked me in a fucking closet, Christ."

"Enough of this metaphorical bullshit.  Do you know where mah dreams went?"

Carol's eye squinted with a smile.  "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

"Don't do this, Carol."

"And ruin my fun by just letting you know?  You're not a bargainer at all.  You should bring that Cajun bitch of yours in."

Rogue's eyes narrowed.  "Don't ya bring him inta this."

"See, you always want that, but I do that anyway.  When will you learn that I'm not going to listen to you just to spite you.  You may not have figured this out yet, but I'm not particularly fond of you.  Wasting what could be the happiest days of my life in this cube is not how I wanted to spend my life."

"Here we go again.  Ya're just gonna go on an' on about how Ah ruined yoah life, how Ah took it away from you."  _Two can play at bein' cocky_, Rogue thought evilly… and also bravely.  It took all her control to not rack with shivers because this was the last thing in the world she wanted to be doing.

"That's exactly what it's about though!"

"We've gone over this befoh.  Ah had no choice."

"Don't turn this into a story about you.  You took _my_ life from _me_."

"Lookit Miss Selfish over here.  Oh wait, Ah'm sorry, it _was_ Miss _Marvel_."

A growl was heard, no doubt from Carol.  "Do you want your fucking dreams or not?"

Rogue's features softened.  "So ya do have them?" She whispered.

Carol took a second before replying.  "I had to occupy myself somehow," she said casually, although quietly.  "Your dreams are quite fun.  Especially the more recent ones."

"How did ya get them?"

"For me to know and you to figure out.  That's not the point though, is it now?  You just want them for the time being so you can figure out what Sinister did to you when you were a kid, right?"

"How did ya know?"

"Don't think I'm locked away from everything, Roguey.  This shack you've shoved me into is where everything filters through before being stored in wherever part of your mind."

Rogue wasn't' too comfortable with Carol knowing more about how her mind worked than her.  It only made sense though.  Carol was living in her head.  She wasn't an entity, a presence in a matter of terms, or an imprint.  She was a living, breathing personality in her head.  Of course she would have full out emotions, meaning boredom when it came around to it.  She'd probably spent the last year or so taking in everything she could about her surroundings to keep herself from going completely insane.

Carol laughed, and it wasn't nice.  "I know what you're thinking.  I've tapped into that, too."

"How the hell could you know what Ah'm thinkin'?"

"This _is_ your mind, Rogue.  The thinking does happen in here, yanno.  It's only a matter of finding one of the speakers and you can hear _everything_."

"You were never this cynical befoh."

"Talking to yourself to pass the time does that.  That, and I've ripped out all my hair at this point… I did it to see if I could watch it grow back.  I measure it by the lengths of my nails, which have gotten particularly gross.  See?"  She stuck her pinky finger out of the miniscule hole, showing a rather ugly and chipped nail that was about four inches long.  She pulled it out of view once she heard Rogue gasped disgustedly.  "I refuse to bite them... nasty habit.  Anyway, about my hair… it hasn't grown back in too well.  I think the first thing I'll do when I get out of here is get that mess cleaned up."

"Ya really think Ah'm gonna let you out of there?"

There was that laugh again.  "Do you_ really_ think I'm just going to give you the dreams freely?  You're so funny sometimes, Rogue!"

Rogue sighed in frustration.  "Okay.  You wanna bargain?  Fine.  Let's go then.  What do ya want in return foh mah dreams?"

"… Didn't I just tell you what I wanted?"

"Ya're gonna hafta be a little more specific than that.  Ah mean… if ya're lookin' foh full out freedom in mah mind, that's not gonna work."

"Aww, what a pity then.  No deal."

"You know as well as Ah do that option is a bit extreme!"

"It's all a matter of prices, Roguey Roo."  Rogue grimaced.  God, how she hated that nickname.  Of course Carol would've known that.  "The thing is," Carol continued.  "I know how much these dreams mean to you.  Kind of like those credit card commercials.  Rogue's gloves: $15, Rogue's hair job: $35, Rogue's dreams: …priceless."  Rogue only stared.  "Alright, alright.  I know the hair is natural, no need to be stonefaced."

The southern girl pulled away from the hole for a moment to collect her thoughts.  She did not dare look at Xavier.  He forfeited his chance to give advice the second he sent her over to Carol.  "Ah'll let ya live as me foh a couple hours," she relented aloud.

"A day," Carol commanded.

"Ten hours."

"Twenty."

"Eleven."

"Fifteen?" This time it came out in the form of a question, almost a plea.

"Twelve."

"Thirteen?"

"Done."  Rogue could practically feel Carol grinning through the thick concrete.  She just scooted further away and laid her head on her knees.  "Ah'm so gonna regret this."

"Of course you are."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"You're welcome."

Rogue sighed angrily.  "Does the word 'rhetorical' mean anythin' ta you?"

"Not a thing."

"Ah'm _definitely_ gonna regret this," Rogue moaned, burying her pale face in her equally pale hands.

Remy held his shoulder as he, Pietro and the rest of the Brotherhood plodded into the house.  Logan had moved to the base of the steps, keeping the peeping new recruits at bay.  Jamie was safely kept downstairs away from the curious ears of those upstairs.  The news would of course make it around the mansion in a matter of time, but it would've been better if the situation was slightly solved before doing so.  Hank, Scott and Jean were now in the foyer as well.  Scott and Jean immediately scowled at the presence of the Brotherhood, but they ignored them completely as they, plus Remy, walked over to the couch where Mystique sat.  Kitty sat with Kurt and Jamie on the opposite couch.

"Remy?  Is something wrong with your shoulder?" Hank asked, observant of the Cajun's posture.

"T'ink I t'rew it out," he mumbled as Hank bounded over.

"Lift up your shirt.  I'll examine it quickly," he said.  Even though Hank was a chemistry teacher at Bayville High, his expertise in the medical field was never questioned.

"Sure," Remy said in the same tone as before.  He peeled off his jacket and his black t-shirt followed.  A gasp elicited from Tabitha's lips, but she received a jab from the elbows of both Pietro and Todd.

"Just admiring art, jeez."

"I would normally be flattered, Tabby, but as y' c'n see, I'm jus' not too enthusiastic t'night." He hissed through his teeth as Hank rotated his arm around.

"You pulled a muscle," Hank diagnosed.  "I'll go retrieve a sling from the medical area."  And then he bounded off.

Everyone settled down after that.  Remy sat awkwardly to Mystique's left, and Lance was to his left.  On the third couch sat Pietro, Tabitha and Todd, and sitting alone in the reclining chair was Fred.  Mystique just stared at her hands in her lap, while Remy propped his good elbow on the back of the couch and fumbled his fingertips across his lips.

"Excuse me if I think something is wrong with this scene," Jean suddenly spoke up.  She was glaring at the Brotherhood intently, but wondering why Remy… well, not Remy, but mainly why Kurt and Kitty hadn't said a thing to them or about their presence.

"Not now, Princess," Todd mumbled.

"What was that, Tolensky?" Scott asked.  Jean was glaring daggers at Todd for the degrading title.

"I didn't say nothin'."

"Yeah, I didn't hear anything," Fred said, backing him up.

"What is going on here?" Scott was getting very agitated.

"Summers, this really ain't the time for chit-chat.  Right now, to some of us, our sister is going through of hell of a lot in her head, and all you can care about is what you don't know?  And I thought I was selfish."  Kitty threw a cautious glance towards Lance after he finished talking, but he rolled his eyes in return.

"Remy?" Jean turned to him, sighing.  Her patience was wearing thin.

"Don' look at me.  I'm not in de mood t' tell y' what's goin' on because I'm likely t' blow up if I have t' utter a word.  Unless y' lookin' for some remodelin' tips courtesy of me, I t'ink y' better shut up."

"He's got a point," Logan said from behind.  "You're at the same level as them," he hooked a thumb up towards the younger recruits at the top of the steps.  "You should go up there an' keep 'em under control.  They don't need to be gettin' involved in this."

"You're reducing us to babysitting?" Jean asked incredulously.

Logan thought for a moment.  "Yeah, I guess I am.  Now just go up."  Jean quickly glared at him and the rest of the group for a short moment and stomped up the steps.  Scott looked at the group as well, but no one could tell his emotion underneath his shades, though it was no doubt an unhappy one.  He followed Jean up the stairs as well.

"I thought they'd never leave," Tabitha muttered under her breath.

"I hear that," Fred seconded.

Mystique lifted her head up, mainly towards Logan.  "Would it be possible for me to see her?"

"She's in a trance right now, Raven," Ororo stated calmly as she entered the area.  "The professor with her deep in her mind."

"Could I just watch her?"

Ororo glanced to Logan, who sort of just shrugged with his eyes.  "Very well," Ororo relented.  Mystique slowly picked herself up and followed Ororo back into the library.

"Are you thinking that I'm actually going to try something?" Mystique asked with a chuckle as they walked.

"The thought did cross my mind, but I do have the feeling that you have no hostility towards any of us tonight."  She opened the door for Mystique and soon the two women were out of sight.

Remy stopped playing with his lip and glanced around to everyone else.  They all just sat in a very awkward silence, as if nothing they could say would carry a conversation for even three minutes.  His eyes fell to Mystique's seat, where a lone pack of cigarettes lay.  They beckoned to him.  _Smoke me, Remy.  I'll make you feel better._  It was an enticing offer… maybe the nicotine would do him good.

"You should go see her too," Pietro suggested.

"I don' wan' see her."

"What?" Kitty asked in total disbelief.  "How could you not want to see her?"

"I jus' don', alright?"  In a deft motion, he palmed the pack off the seat and stood up.  "Anyone wanna get some air?"  Pietro stood up with him, as did Tabitha.  Remy nodded to them in thanks and then looked to the others.  "If Hank asks where I am, don' tell him I'm outside."  He waved the pack at them and the institute kids understood.  Then he left, Pietro and Tabitha behind him.

They walked out around to a few yards away from the pool area.  Remy leaned against the wall and held up the pack to Pietro, offering.  "No thanks," Pietro declined.

He held it to Tabitha next, who took one gratefully.  "Didn' know y' smoked, Tabby."

"An occasional thing," she stated simply.  "Nothing too much so I don't get addicted.  Can ya light me?"  She held the cigarette to her lips and Remy placed his fingertip to the end of it.  It sparked to life with his power and Tabitha took in a drag, coughing for a second as she got used to it.

Remy did the same to his own.  He took a nice, long, needed drag and enjoyed the nicotine that instantly rushed into his system.  Immediately he felt better.  "I forgot how relaxin' dese t'ings are."  He took another drag and slowly let out the smoke through his partially opened lips.

"You think Mysti's gonna be mad about the smokes?" Tabitha asked Pietro.

"Tonight I think it's the last thing on her mind.  If she bitches later on, I'll steal her a whole carton," he replied nonchalantly.  

"Okay.  I think she already hates me for breaking into her room," she laughed.

"I think she adores the neon orange walls.  The paint job you and Todd did is awesome."

"The splatters where his idea, really."

Remy half-listened as they purposely went off on a tangent about Tabitha's designing changes to Raven's room.  Soon he was done his cigarette and snubbing the end under the heel of his sneaker.  He considered getting another one out of the pack, but that would lead to a third and a fourth one at least.  And then he would be back to where he was before joining the X-Men.  And when this was all over and done with, Rogue wouldn't be too happy with her wasted effort of making him quit.  _When dis is all over…_ he thought wistfully.  _Like hell dat's gon' happen._

Pietro and Tabitha stopped talking and just stared at Remy.  He felt their eyes on him and looked up.  "What?"

"You need to see her," Pietro stated, with Tabby nodding.

"I tol' y' already dat I don' wan' see her."

"Yes, you do," Pietro said.  "The act of being away from her is tearing you apart as we speak."

"Dat's not de point."

"Then what is, Remy?" Tabby countered.

Remy glanced briefly to Pietro, his red eyes flashing so quickly that Tabitha almost missed the motion.  "Just go, Remy.  Face _it_."  He stressed 'it', not to be degrading, but he meant for him to face his fears.

"I wish I could," He whispered, fumbling another cigarette out of the pack.

Pietro swatted it away from him before Remy could fully take it out.  "Get in there with her, now.  Don't you think that when she wakes up she'll need you there?"

"She will… but-"

"No 'buts'.  Just get in there and hold her."

"Fine!" Remy shouted loudly.  He pushed himself away from the wall and stomped back to the front.

"What was that about?" Tabby asked, finally finishing her smoke.

"Wish I could tell ya.  C'mon."  He grabbed her hand and led her back into the house.

Remy had walked by Todd and the others without so much of a word.  He went straight to the library without stopping.  He flung open the door, surprising Ororo and Mystique.

"What are you doing in here, Remy?" Ororo asked.

Remy was at Rogue's side before they could realize it.  "I'm here f'r moral support."  Before either could stop him, Remy had his bare hand on Rogue's face.

"What the hell is he doing?" Mystique yelled as she ran over to break the contact between the southerners.  Xavier was shaken out of his trance, but Rogue remained still.

"What is going on?"  Charles asked reflexively without really observing.

"He's in her mind," Ororo whispered.

"That rat bastard!" Mystique hissed.

"Calm down, Raven," Charles said tranquilly.  "No harm that comes to her will be his fault."

"What do you mean, Professor?" Ororo asked.

"Carol has been set loose."

TBC…

Alright, I wasn't planning to make this a multi-chapter story… but I was getting sick of looking at what I had and wanted to get it out.  :o)  Anyway, the next chapter will most likely be the conclusion, unless it takes me too long to post once again.  This story will not turn into the 20-some chapter saga like 'Street Livin', though I would love to write something in the Evolution verse that long.  Please review and let me know you're reading this!!  (I feel like people are bored of Evo Rogue/Remy stories after DoR…)  Thanks!


	3. Family Ties of the Worst Kind

**What Dreams Are Made Of**

Part 3

***Before***

Charles sat by in silence while Rogue negotiated with Carol. He couldn't have been prouder of her, well, except for her crude language, but he was proud she'd gone against her fear.

After Rogue pulled herself in a ball and bickered with Carol some more, she gained her composure and looked into the hole again.  "All raht, how are we gonna do this?" Rogue asked Carol, her green eye blinking in time with Carol's blue one.

"You're in power here.  You figure it out," Carol spat, although she was anxious of her escape.

Rogue sighed angrily.  "Ah could probably jus' break you outta there…"

"You could," Carol answered a little too quickly.

"But that would destroy the cage."

"How did I know you were going to figure that out?"

Rogue smirked.  "This is mah mind, remember?"

"How could I forget?" Carol stated blandly.

"Okay, lemme try somethin'.  Step back a li'l bit."  Carol pulled away from the hole as Rogue put her two index fingers at the opening of it.  Rogue closed her eyes and thought warm thoughts.  This was her mind and she could do whatever she deemed necessary, regardless of whether she could do it in the tangible world, right?  Warm thoughts, fire, melting.  Rogue felt the heat at her fingertips and willed it to spread.  The cement was thick, at least three inches, nothing paper-thin.  She centered all her thoughts on expanding that hole, just making it big enough for Carol to step through.

She heard Carol giggle and she couldn't decide if it was a good one or not.  She opened her eyes and would have just about fainted if she weren't in her mind.  Carol… well… looked different to say the least.  As she had said before, her own hands had ripped her hair out and it was just growing back in uneven lengths.  Most of it looked like a fresh buzz cut with an old, choppy, electric razor.  She'd diminished into an oddly thin girl, still wearing the white blouse and sky blue pants she wore the day she'd gotten absorbed -- the day she'd gotten trapped.  It was torn, of course, most likely to accommodate Carol's boredom. 

"You look as if you've seen a ghost," grinned Carol.  Her teeth looked slightly yellow, but not horribly disgusting as the rest of her.  Rogue attributed that to her mind - maybe she didn't wish to see Carol so… ugly.

"It's just been awhile," Rogue said, holding back a gulp.

"Since you did let me out voluntarily, I guess I can be nice," Carol sighed.  She turned her back for a moment.

"What're ya doin'?"

"Getting your dreams.  Duh.  It's going to take a couple handfuls."

"Handfuls?"

Carol looked at her unbelievingly.  "You really don't know anything about this place, do you?"

Rogue narrowed her eyes.  She wanted to say something similar to "Ah haven't been stuck in here foh a year, thank you" but decided against it.  Carol was being friendly as it was.  She only hoped Carol hadn't heard her - damn, she was feeling apprehensive.

"Here," Carol said.  Rogue reflexively stuck her hands out, palms up.  Carol dumped a handful of orbs into Rogue's pale hands.  Rogue watched as Carol instantly pulled away from her, almost unnoticeably shuddering from the near contact with Rogue's skin.

"You shied away from me," Rogue accused, keeping her face neutral.

"Let's just sat I don't want to find out what would happen if you touched me in here," Carol whispered.  "Look at those and I'll get the rest."

Rogue nodded and glanced down to the orbs in her hands.  They were the size of standard marbles and translucent with a frosted sky blue.  She peered into one in particular.  Images swirled in it like all of other orbs, all swirling too quickly to decipher with a single glance.  Just as she was beginning to organize the images, she felt her whole psychic world jolt.  "Shit!" She screamed and looked to the professor for some sort of logical reasoning on what was happening, but he was gone.  "Stay here," she told Carol as she dropped the orbs onto a pillow she instantly fabricated with a single thought.

"Someone touched you," Carol said, stepping completely out of the cage.

"Who the hell would touch me in this state?"  Rogue suspended herself in the air and looked to the blonde.  The professor couldn't have mistakenly touched me, raht?"

Carol shrugged. "It's hard to say.  I'll stay here.  Do what you need with the intruder."

"The butterflies!  Maybe Ah can stop them…" then she flew out.  "Don't touch the butterflies!" she yelled before actually seeing who it was.  When she saw a glimpse of red blink at her through the fury of silver energy wings, she gasped.  "Remy?"

"Chere?" He called from behind the rush of butterflies soaring towards him.

"Remy, don't reach foh the butterflies.  They'll trap you."

"Dey wan' t' touch me -"

"Get away from him!" She threw her arms apart in a separation gesture and the butterfly cloud split and flew away.  Rogue ran up to him, crouching down beside him.  "What're ya doin' here, Remy?"

"I was scared t' see y', chere.  I didn' want y' t' feel any pain… but I didn' know what t' do t' make all dis stop.  It scared me t' see y' like dat.  I jus' came in an' touched y'… I'm sorry, chere."

"Shh… it's okay, sugah," she soothed.  She materialized gloves on her hands, ones that stretched up to past her elbows.  She pulled him into a hug.  "Don't be scared of him.  He can't get ya in here."  She knew Remy's greatest fear was of Sinister.

"I know," he murmured, laying his head onto her chest.

Rogue began to whisper sadly, "You're not gonna remember this when ya wake up…" 

"I know," he repeated, not realizing she was going to continue.

"But Carol's free."

"Quoi!?"

"Yeah… Ah had ta let her out."

"Why!?"

"Foh mah dreams."

Remy lifted his head and looked back to the shack.  Standing in the doorway was Carol, or who he assumed was Carol.  He never really saw much of her when the accident occurred and then again, she looked very different than what he did remember.  "She stole dem?"

"More like kept watch of them.  Ah need ta go see which one Ah've been havin' recently."

"Let me come wit' y'."

Rogue thought about it for a moment.  She really didn't want to be with Carol alone and Remy wouldn't remember a thing when he woke up… but then again, was it harmful to either of them since he wasn't in a cocoon and instead walking freely in her mind?  "All raht," she decided, knowing ultimately he'd have to be trapped later on.  She stood up, pulling him with her.  The butterflies fluttered by anxiously, waiting to take Remy for all he was worth.

"Are you guys coming or what?" Carol asked impatiently.  She was a few steps out of the door, the butterflies staying an obvious distance away from her.  Rogue noticed this, but didn't say a thing.  She slid her hand into Remy's and led him to the shack, the butterflies ever-following.  They looked confused, conversing with each other in an incoherent, inhuman language.  As Rogue stepped up to Carol with Remy, the butterflies that were following him joined those hovering away from Carol.  They were afraid of her status in her head.

"What's wit' dem?" Remy asked, raising an eyebrow to the arch the butterflies had formed.

"I broke out of the first cocoon they put me in.  They're angry with me and frightened of me at the same time.  That's why everything is so instantaneous now.  They're afraid to let anyone slip by like I did and have someone take over the mindscape again."

"How did y' break out?"

"I had too much power - and I was free within moments.  They absorbed me again, but didn't build a cocoon.  It's like they don't have a Plan B incase something were to happen.  That's why they're particularly on their toes now because I fucked things up here enough."

"So," Rogue thought as she went back to what Carol said first.  "You were stuck walkin' around mah head an' that's why is was so dark an' gloomy."

"Because the balance was off.  Naturally I was - am - just a _little pissed off with being trapped in this boundless prison – so of course I wanted to screw things up."_

"But y' free now."

"I'm as free as I was when I first got here."

"That's why, she's, um, takin' over mah body foh a li'l bit," Rogue told him gently.

"What?!"

Carol grinned proudly.  "It's only for half a day, calm down."

Remy looked at Rogue.  "When de hell did y' come t' dis decision?"

Rogue shrugged shyly.  "She said she would help.  She had mah dreams."

"It's all perfectly legit, Cajun.  Just go with it.  In the meantime until this is completely solved, I'll be a good girl.  I know how taxing this is on Rogue and how much she needs my cooperation."

Remy eyed the blonde cautiously until he was sure she was telling the truth.  "Fine.  Let's get dis over wit'."

"I agree.  Come on, I got the rest of your dreams in the Attic."

"The Attic?  Ah call it the Cellar."

Carol rolled her eyes.  "It's all the same: storage space, dusty.  I just don't like agreeing with you, therefore, I named it on my own.  By the way, Attic is a better name for where you throw your ignored things."

Rogue was about to reply with some nasty retort but then she felt Remy's eyes on her back.  She glanced over her shoulder to him.  "What?"

"Just admirin' de dress," he smirked.

"One track mind, Ah swear," she sighed.  With a wave of her hand, Remy's black T-shirt and jeans were replaced with a Renaissance outfit to fit with her theme– frilly laced shirt, long coat with tails, the works.  "Don't you look dashin' now," she grinned much to his chagrin.

"I liked my ot'er clothes better."

"Tough," she countered, blowing him a quick kiss.

"Ooh!" Carol jumped up and down with fake giddiness.  "Me next!"  Her face instantly fell flat, showing how much she was kidding.

Rogue glared at her and flicked her wrist again, making Carol's clothes whole again.  Carol glanced down.  She mumbled her thanks after she quickly examined her new threads and kept walking.  Rogue and Remy followed her inside the Cellar – Attic – whatever – and Rogue instantly saw all the additional orbs on the floor. Between the chests and cabinets and then the orbs, there was barely room to walk.  Rogue floated, while Carol and Remy managed to keep up on either side of her.  Carol couldn't help but glare at Rogue out of the corner of her eye.  _How dare she use **my** powers blatantly?_

"Y' should know which one it is, right?" Remy asked Carol.

"I mixed it in with the others after I was done watching it."

"How often do ya watch it?" Rogue asked, almost accusingly.  If Carol watched it repeatedly, maybe that was why Rogue was dreaming it every night.

"A new one comes every night, so it's not a matter of me watching it that makes it a reoccurring dream.  When one dream gets placed next to the exact copy of it, it falls apart into small glass particles and then its useless to watch."

"Sorry."

Carol shrugged.  "How would you have known?  Anyway, I have this system of catching your dreams because otherwise they would have just floated around aimlessly."  She walked back to her cage and picked something up.  She came back to the center of the room and presented it to Rogue.  It was the torn remains of Carol's clothing wrapped in her blonde strands.  "The orbs stick to really baby fine particles – well, I assumed that it would at first.  But I just fed this through my hole and started catching them.  It's like having a new movie everyday."

"So… goin' back t' my original question dat I asked five minutes ago…"

"Not a clue, Cajun."

"T'anks," he scowled.  Rogue placed a feather light hand on his shoulder.

"Shh…"

He nodded, relenting.  "I guess we better get t' work den," he sighed, kneeling down.

"What should we be lookin' foh pointedly?"

"I remember seeing that dress, and you're about two feet shorter.  Your hair is longer, too."

Rogue thought about it for a moment.  "Then Ah was about seven?"

It was Carol's turn to think.  "I suppose.  Why?"

Rogue sighed.  "Ah need that one, then.  Ah just found out some shit went down when Ah was seven."

Carol's head tilted to the side, her blue eyes curious.  "What happened?  Do you think actually think that this dream is connected to Sinister?"

Remy's arm sneaked around Rogue's waist and he pulled her close, ever so gently.  Just hearing the name uttered in the slightest way made him uncomfortable.  "You've seen them, Carol," Rogue spoke up.  "What happens in the one Ah'm talkin' about.  You've been watchin' them foh Gawd knows how long."

Carol blinked, her face falling to the ground and avoiding Rogue and Remy's eyes.  "He's not actually in the dream, but you can tell that through symbols that it's him causing it."

"Carol… help me find it.  Please." Rogue looked at her with sincere eyes – she was practically pleading with her.

"It's gonna be hard.  In the long run it'll be you who does the final deciding of which dream it is."

"What do you mean?"

"I only get to watch it once and then I put it away in the pile with the rest of them.  I know which dream it is, but it's not as if it has emotional value to me.  Once you see it, you'll know what dream it is that's been haunting you.  If I see it, I can easily brush it off and go to the next one.  Do you know what I'm saying?"

Downhearted, Rogue replied, "yes.  Foh some reason Ah figured this wasn't gonna be easy."

Carol snorted a laugh.  Her face became somber again, and then she added, "I can help you narrow it down though.  We'll probably be in here for a long time, though."

"Ah'm willin' ta do whatever it takes.  Ah've gotta know."  She looked up to Remy, who nodded solemnly in response.  She knew this would be hard for him, even though it was her dream that had Sinister in it.  Carol said there were symbols – Rogue had no doubts that Remy would be able to pick them up on his own.  "Remy," she whispered.  "Ya gonna be okay?"

He nodded again.  

"Tell me that you are."

"I'll be fine," he said in a barely audible voice.  

She leaned up and kissed the side of his face through his hair.  "Ah know you'll be.  You're the one who has ta keep me sane, an' Ah know you'll be able ta do that."

A small smile came to his face.  "Merci, chere."  He held her closer for a moment.

Carol sighed loudly to break them up.  "Are you ready to get started?"  She was beginning to get impatient.  The sooner they solved this, the sooner she would have complete freedom, even if it was only for a little more than half a day.

Rogue looked at her with determined eyes.  "Yeah.  Let's get this ovah with."

On the other side, Mystique was going insane with worry as Xavier attempted to get into Rogue's mind once again.  "Well?" She was pacing back and forth, arms crossed over her chest.

"I find it hard to concentrate with you asking me about the status of my mind scan every five seconds, Raven.  I'm going to need a bit more patience from you."

She held back a snarl and continued pacing.  Ororo watched her intently, holding Remy's prone body.  She wanted to ask the professor about his progress, but Mystique was doing enough asking for the both of them.  Instead, she gently stroked Remy's hair, and hoped he would wake up soon.

"Her mental shields are equivalent to Remy's now.  She hasn't manifested his powers otherwise though."

"What do you think that means?" Mystique asked, worried.  "Is it something Carol might be doing in her mind?"

Xavier replayed all of the information he had gathered during his travels in Rogue's mind.  He remembered the butterflies and how they would absorb the power and memories of the entity and then give it to her.  "It is possible that she hasn't fully absorbed him," he tossed out as an idea.

"How is that even possible?  He touched her, he's knocked out, therefore she absorbed him," Mystique said with an incredulous look on her face.

"You don't know how her mind works.  Up until I entered her mind, neither did I."

"Then I suppose you've been doing a wonderful job helping her with her powers," she scoffed.

"That's not fair," Ororo responded defensively.  "Rogue has been intolerant to help from the professor and you know it.  She's been against telepaths since the moment she stepped inside the institute doors."

"You sound as if you don't like her too much, wind witch," Mystique snarled in defense of her daughter.  

Ororo blinked.  "I didn't mean it like that.  What I meant was that she doesn't like her head peeked at.  I can tell you're the same way."  Her crystal blue eyes narrowed.  "Also I don't appreciate the name calling."

Mystique rolled her eyes at her last comment.  "I don't trust anyone with telepathic powers."  She side-glared at Xavier.  "There's just something that's ungodly unnerving about someone poking about your innermost thoughts.  You can't blame me for worrying about my daughter like that."

It was Ororo's turn to scoff.  "It seems you've picked the perfect time to worry about her."

In a flash, Mystique was across the room, face to face with Ororo.  "You can call me a thief, a conniving bitch for all I care, but don't you dare insult my parenting.  I know I've done wrong there, and I don't need someone like you to tell me so.  I took care of my children the best I could with my lifestyle."

Ororo stayed calm, which was hard because she despised Mystique so much.  "I would hardly call that taking care of your children well.  You abandoned one in Germany to be taken care of by strangers and the other one was left in the South to be ripped out of her room in the middle of the night.  Not only that, but you lied to her when _we_ tried to recruit her."

Mystique lifted her hand as if to strike, but thought better of it.  "Is it my fault I didn't want to lose my daughter to the same people who had my son?  I'm so very sorry if I wanted to spend some time with her on _my_ team."  Her tone was sarcastic and cynical, but Ororo thought nothing of it.

"Regardless… do you really think she's ready to take you back?  That Kurt is ready to take you back?  You show up randomly and hope that all is well because you've had this change of heart.  I wouldn't even forgive my own mother for such a deed."

Mystique held her hand up to her temple.  "Just stop it, alright.  I'm tired of this bullshit."  She turned back to Xavier, signaling she was through listening to Ororo.  "Have you gotten anywhere yet?"  She was almost screaming.

"I have not," Charles responded calmly, despite her outburst once again.

"Then I'm going to have a smoke."  She slunk out of the room, even though she wanted to stomp like a little child.  She walked straight into Pietro, who was holding her pack of cigarettes.  

"I'd figured you want these eventually…" he said, handing them to her.

She considered snatching them out of his hand, but instead opted for being calm this time around.  "Thank you."  She ruffled the pack and snatched a single cigarette out.  "There're two missing."

"Blame Remy."

Mystique rolled her cream white eyes.  "And Rogue claims she got him to quit."  With a quick glance around, she whispered, "If anyone's looking for me, pretend I'm you, got it?"

"Uhh, sure?"

With a smile, she shifted into the white haired mutant and strolled outside.  Unfortunately for her cover though, a certain pair of golden eyes watched the whole exchange…

Rogue had tossed aside fifty dreams with no success.  Carol had helped in narrowing it down to about a hundred orbs, but that still left half the pile for Rogue to look through.  What Rogue hadn't realized were that day dreams were in here too, making it even more difficult to discover the one dream that had been haunting her.  Carol had pretty much grabbed the more recent dreams and thrown them in Rogue's direction to figure out what was in them.

"Simple dreams fade over time," she had said when they began.  She had held up a more recent dream with one that Rogue had dreamed over a year before.  "They always stay, but see how this one," she motioned to the hand with the older dream. "…is a bit fuzzier and grayer than the other one?  I can give you the newer ones.  Since this dream is reoccurring, it'll be bright along with the newer ones."

Remy was quiet the entire time, just staring over Rogue's shoulder.  Nothing stood out for him, and that comforted Rogue into thinking she hadn't missed anything.  Some of the dreams had him in it, whether they were being intimate and actually touching, or if they just happened to be having fun at a picnic.  Regardless, Remy didn't make any coy comments about it.  He knew it wasn't the time, and Rogue was appreciative of that as well.

"Ah think Ah need a break," Rogue sighed, falling back against Remy.

Carol nodded.  "It's really tedious work, I know.  It's interesting when I watch them, but then when it was the only thing I could do stuck in that cement box, it got a bit boring to say the least."  She toyed with a piece of her blonde hair that was shorter than the rest.

Rogue thought about it for a moment.  "Do ya have any sort of power in here that Ah don't know about?"

Carol narrowed her eyes slightly.  "Are you implying something?"

Rogue shook her head.  "Ah'm just curious.  It's jus' a bit more than obvious that Ah don't know everythin' that goes on in here.  Ah know the butterflies an' cocoons, Ah know how energy is transferred ta me, Ah know you were back here along with mah darkest fears – which Ah luckily didn't stumble upon while searchin'.  That's the extent of mah knowledge."

"What makes you think that I would have any more power than say, Remy here?"

"Ah absorbed you all the way.  Duh.  Don't play dumb with me.  Ah know from what Ah first got from ya that you were on the top of yoah class back in Boston."

"Dat an' I be fadin'."

Rogue turned to face him.  "Remy?"

"I'm tired, chere.  It feels like it's takin' too much energy t' stay wit' y', y' know?"

As much as she wanted him to stay with her and help her through this, she had no idea how his body was dealing with him being stuck alive in her mind.  He probably should have woken up minutes ago, but since he was still in her mind walking about, he was no doubt still unconscious in the conscious world.  "Okay, sugah."

She stood up and extended her hand down to him.  He nodded to her and accepted her it.  She pulled him up and began to lead him out the door.  He turned slightly and waved to Carol.  "It was nice t' actually meet y' after all dis time."

The blonde nodded.  "Same, I guess.  The dreams don't lie about you."

Remy blinked, trying to understand what she meant.  She giggled.  Rogue tugged him out of the Cellar.  She pulled him into the meadow of cocoons again.

She was about to let go of his hand, but then whispered, "Ah wanna try somethin'."

Remy's held tilted slightly to the side.  "What, chere?"

She bit her lip innocently.  "Ah wanna try kissin' ya here."  Before he could answer, she added, "Ah know ya won't remember it, but Ah just wanna see the effects of it."

"What if it keeps me from m' body?"

"Ah don't think it will.  Just… jus' let me do this, okay?"

He smiled warmly.  "Anyt'in' for y'.  Whenever y' ready."

Rogue didn't know why she made the request, but it brought her back to how Carol had shied away from her, even in her mind.  Unsure of how to go about the kiss, she decided to go simple.  She stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his.  The crackle of electricity and fluttering of wings scared her and startled Remy, but neither dared to pull away.  It was then she began to feel him dissolve.  Before he was completely gone, she opened her eyes to see he had broken apart into butterflies of his own.  There was no new cocoon, and the already present butterflies seemed to have welcomed the Remy ones into their pack.

"Wow."  Rogue turned and saw Carol standing in the doorway of the Cellar.  A Remy butterfly, red and black, of course, fluttered near Carol's arm and combusted at once when it came into contact with her skin.  The blonde smiled maliciously.  "That's what you get, you li'l bitch."

Rogue frowned.  She had hoped these newer butterflies would have served the same purpose of the original ones.  Instead, it seemed as if they were weaker.  _It's not as if Ah had expected them ta appear, but it would be nice if they could've been even the slightest bit useful_.

She extended her hand towards one of them, and it landed willingly.  It did not combust.  However, it did melt into her hand and cause it to glow.  Curious, Rogue fabricated a small pile of stones by her bare feet.  She bent down and picked one up, allowing the energy in her hand to transfer over.  The rock began to glow brightly and then Rogue threw it further than her or Carol could see.

She turned back to Carol.  "That was cool," the blonde girl commented sincerely before turning back into the shed.

Meanwhile, back in the library, Remy awoke with a start.  He began flailing wildly out of Ororo's grasp, as if he were falling apart.  "Remy?  What's wrong?" Ororo asked, concerned as she tried to get out of his way.

He calmed down instantly, trying to remember.  "I don' know…" His hand immediately went up to his lips as well, although he didn't know why.  He looked to her, and then the professor.  

The professor had pulled away from trying to break through Rogue's mental shields, as she had finally manifested Remy's physical power.  However, Rogue had still not woken up from the trance.  Wordlessly, Remy stood up, wavering the slightest bit, but still managed to pick her up.  Not thinking all too brightly, he stumbled with her into the kitchen, although it had proven to be mutant proof in the past.

"Chere, wake up."  He didn't remember a thing from being in her mind, so he had no idea why she still hadn't woken up or that Carol was out or what they were looking for before he left.  He grabbed a spoon off the counter and placed it into her hands.  He waited for the potential energy on the spoon to become kinetic, and then he grabbed the spoon from her.  Within seconds, he was up at the window, throwing the hot spoon outside.  He heard a nice explosion before returning to Rogue's side.  "Why ain' y' up?"  He was beginning to worry.  Usually forced absorption would wake her up from a trance, or so he assumed.  To him, he was only unconscious for a matter of moments, even though Xavier had been trying to get into Rogue's mind for at least a half hour.

"She's too deep in her mind, Remy.  A jolt like that would've woken her up if she was sleeping, but it's a different type of consciousness that she's in," Xavier explained, appearing in the doorway.

"Can y' wake her up?"

"Not with the mental shields she has now, compliments of you," he rolled towards the couple.

Remy hung his head a bit.  "Sorry.  Wasn' t'inkin'."

"I know this is hard on you, but we'll all have to deal with it.  What's important now is that Rogue wakes up after she finds what she wants.  The only thing is, she'll have to find it on her own."

"She's in dere all by herself?  Dat'll take f'rever."

"… You don't recall anything?"

"Dat's how her mind works.  She'll remember it, but de person goin' in has no knowledge comin' out."

"That makes sense."  Xavier weighed the option of telling him about Carol.  Would he explode?  But he did have a right to know…  "I'm sure she's not alone in there, Remy.  Maybe there's a piece of you helping," he offered encouragingly.  

"Somehow I be doubtin' dat now, Professeur." 

Mystique leaned against the same wall Remy had been leaning against no more than an hour before, shakily smoking her second cigarette in the last five minutes.  It was somehow more enjoyable to her in Pietro's form.  _Like I'm disgracing him_, she thought maliciously.  _Serves him right, being the spawn of that monster.  If only Erik could see his darling boy now…_

"Having fun, Pietro?"

Mystique blinked away her menacing thoughts of her former employer and looked to the voice.  Kurt.  "Yeah.  You know how it is.  Stress."

"Of course," Kurt said, unimpressed.  "We usually just do ze Danger Room zing when ve're stressed."

_Think like Pietro._  "Well, we don't have a fancy basement with all those goodies, now do we?"

Kurt sighed.  "Drop it, Mozzer."

Her eyes blinked to solid white.  She sighed as she shifted back into herself. "Was I that unconvincing?"

"You could say zat."  He reached over and snatched her cigarette from her hand without another thought.  Quickly, he dropped it and snuffed it out with his tail.  "Zose are bad for you," he chided.

"You and your sister," Mystique sighed loudly.  "Don't tell me you have some girlfriend that you got to quit as well."

Kurt was quiet for a moment.  "Amanda never started."

This piqued Mystique's interest.  "Amanda? So there is someone?"  While she'd been keeping a close eye on Rogue through Risty, it was harder to keep taps on her son with the same alias.  She had tried once, but Kurt simply hadn't taken well to the British girl.

"Zere is.  Amanda Sefton."

She turned the name over and over in her head.  It was vaguely familiar.  _Right!  She was in the one math class that I "subbed" for a few months ago_.  As far as she knew, the girl was human.

"Does she have any powers?"  She tossed out lightly.

"Nein.  She's human."  His eyes narrowed.  "Don't start saying you vould prefer me vith a mutant.  Zhat's outright close minded!"

"I didn't –"

"You vere going zhere.  She also knows ze real me und doesn't have a single problem vith it," he huffed.

Mystique bit back a sigh.  _It's time to tell him._  "Kurt… we need to talk."

"Ya zink?" he retorted.

"For real this time.  No more of this self pity from me, no more beating around the bush."  Kurt's golden eyes blinked up at her.  "Do you want to know what happened in that castle?"

_More zan anyzing_, he wanted to say, but settled for a nod.

Mystique glanced around.  "Is there anywhere we can sit down that's a bit further from the front door?"

Kurt nodded again, placing his hand on his mother's arm.  Before she could react, there were gone in a puff of smoke.

Rogue sighed, following Carol back into the Cellar.  Carol had taken a seat on the floor next to the orbs she had separated into the "new" pile.  "It's nice to see that the new butterflies have no effect on me," she smiled, playing with one of the older orbs in her hand.

"Ah didn't think they would," Rogue said, sitting down on the other side of the pile.  "That'll be cool ta try with others though.  Because now Ah'm thinkin' that if Ah do that ta people, Ah'll be able ta tap into their powers whenever Ah want, ya know what Ah mean?"

"Yeah, that would be neat.  It would really be a matter of keeping the regular butterflies away from them until you were to come in here and absorb them in your mind."

Rogue thought about it.  "You're raht.  Ah'm not usually unconscious when Ah'm absorbin' people, so Ah wouldn't be in this part of mah mind."

"You could probably just work on it.  Get some new techniques going, or something."

"Ya could probably help."

"What do you mean?" Carol's eyebrow rose in inquiry.

Rogue smiled.  "Think of it like bein' a greeter of somesorts.  Ya know, 'Hi, an' welcome ta Rogue's mind.  If ya would please wait ta yoah left, she'll be here ta show ya yoah stayin' place'." She shrugged.  "Ah hate it when things sound better befoh sayin' them."

Carol laughed.  "Yeah, that was a bit corny.  But actually, if I were to intercept the person before the butterflies got to them, the butterflies would stay clear away since they're so frightened of me already."

"Yeah… Ah fohgot that part.  So no need foh stupid openings then," Rogue smiled.

"Exactly.  I figured you would've known me better than that."

Rogue was quiet for a moment.  "Ya know Ah'm sorry, raht?"

The blonde girl nodded.  "Yeah, I know.  You've told me a thousand times and a half."

"But ya know every time Ah was sincere."

"Yeah.  That's the crappy part.  It would be easier to hate you if you were lying to me," Carol scowled.

Rogue picked up an orb and knew, through a quick glance, it wasn't the right dream.  She placed it down in her discard pile.  "Ah think it'll be interestin' when Ah let ya have mah body.  What kinda things will ya do?"

Carol grinned.  "There's some things I have in mind…"

Rogue's eyes widened.  "You're not plannin' on humiliatin' me, are ya?"

"Hey, hey, let's just say anything I do will make up for locking me up in the back recesses of your mind, okay?"

Rogue bit her lip.  "That does sound fair…  Ah'm allowed ta be a bit apprehensive though, raht?"

Her grin turned even brighter.  "Apprehensive is an understatement, _sugah_," she giggled.

Despite Carol's obvious threat, Rogue smiled.  "Yeah, Ah knew Ah would regret it.  But it'll all be in good fun."

"If you say so," Carol muttered with a smirk.

"What was that?"

"Nothing.  Just know that it'll go further than simple things."

"What, like makin' me wear pink an' everythin'?"

Carol laughed.  "Much further than that.  That's only the beginning.  Remember, I have thirteen hours, girly."

"Ah know.  Don't remind me," she groaned lightheartedly.  She picked up another orb idly and glanced at it.  Carol was about to open her mouth with another cynical idea, but Rogue shrieked.  "This is it!"  There was Rogue, as Carol had described: the dress, the longer hair done in curls and she was of course younger.  Rogue pressed her nose against the orb trying to get the best look she could at the small thing.  "Is there any way Ah could blow this up?" Rogue asked desperately.

Carol nodded mutely.  She got up and went back into her cage and disappeared behind the wall.  She came back with a small box made of glass.  "What's that?"

"Remember how I said the exact copied dreams falls apart into glass?  After awhile I got sick of squinting at all the dreams too… so I made this."  She placed it in front of Rogue.  She left again momentarily to the cage and brought back the lamp she had in there.  Rogue didn't know before that there had been any source of light for Carol in there, but she was kind of happy that she didn't spend all those days in complete darkness except for what came in the hole she'd made.  "It's pretty much a film projector.  Can I see the dream?"

Rogue nodded and delicately dropped it into Carol's hand, even though she had gloves on.  Carol took the orb and placed it in the center of the box.  "Carry the lamp," she gently told Rogue as she walked over to the other side of the cage.  "It'll be easier to see against the whitish background," she explained while Rogue handed her the lamp.  Rogue only nodded while Carol set everything up.  She idly noted how Carol's mood had changed from cynical to understanding with Rogue's own somber mood.

"Is there sound with it?" she asked quietly to break the silence.

"It'll pretty much come to life on its own.  You know how when you're actually dreaming, it doesn't seem like you hear anything, but just the actions and mouths moving help depict the story?  That's exactly what this is like."  Rogue nodded again and sat down behind the box and lamp.

"Why do Ah have the feelin' this is gonna hurt?"

Carol didn't know what to say.  She knew Rogue had her vulnerable moments, and this was definitely one of them.  It made it hard for her to dislike her in any way, because she was sure if the same thing had happened to her, she would've wanted someone to help her along the way. 

Cautiously, Carol sat next to Rogue.  "I know I'm not the person you wanted to sit down and watch this with… but I am here if you need someone," she whispered.

Rogue didn't look away from the discolored wall, but Carol swore she saw the corners of the Southerner's lip turn up into a small smile.  "Thank you, Carol.  Ya have no idea how much Ah appreciate that."  Rogue knew they were far from being best friends, but hearing her say that made her feel the tiniest bit better.  However, she knew the task at hand was grim.

Carol gave her a small smile in return.  "Don't mention it."

Mystique and Kurt reappeared on a bench in the middle of the lush gardens of the institute.  "Is zis remote enough?"

Mystique glanced around warily.  "It is."  She sat down on the bench and motioned for Kurt to take a seat as well.  It took Kurt a second to oblige, but then he did.

"Okay… so can we please get zis over vith?"

She sighed then nodded.  "Do you want me to be overly blunt and just say things in one sentence?"

"I vould prefer zhat."

"All right."  She took a deep breath.  "Magneto genetically experimented on you.  I originally went to him because I was a naïve girl with two babies, one of whom I was certain was a mutant – you.  Your hair," she flicked her fingers toward his longer, dark blue strands. "Was already beginning to show in your first few weeks.  I didn't know if you would be a shapeshifter like me, and I didn't want you to live with such an outstanding mutant quality as blue hair.  So… I took you to Magneto in hopes that he would be able to alter your genetic code to basically make you human."

"He told you zhat he could und you believed him?"

"The word 'naïve' was in that monologue, thank you.  This was before I was the big, bad terrorist with a grudge against humans, Kurt."

"Fine, I'm sorry, continue," he snorted.

Mystique took a shaky breath. _Now comes the hard part._  She'd been regretting this every day for the last seventeen years.  _My children are getting so old… and I missed them growing up._  It caused her to sigh again.  Kurt gave her an "I'm waiting" look.  "He's the reason you look the way you do today."  Her voice was strong, though inside she wanted to cry.  Especially after Kurt did nothing for a full minute.  She could tell the instant that it did get through to him though.

"He… I'm… Blue… vhat?!"  Kurt looked at his hands, grabbed at his tail, felt his ears, licked his teeth, pointed out every possible oddity he had that separated him from every other human being or mutant on the world.  "He did this to me?!  How?!"

Mystique stayed strong.  "I don't know.  I let him do what he did, expecting a cure, and when I came back… you were all blue and furry… with a tail… and were looking at me with golden eyes…  I-I didn't know how to deal.  So I ran.  I ran with you in my arms, I didn't know where and soon you were gone."

"Because you dropped me."  He wasn't loud at all, but his voice was ice cold.  It stung Mystique much more than any raised voices could.

She nodded wordlessly.  "I didn't mean to… I lost grasp and then you were gone… forever."

"Ja.  Forever."  He stood up, pacing back and forth, tail jetting this way and that.  "You're not expecting forgiveness, are you?"

She could only shake her head.

"Good.  Now… vhat caused you to be so against humans in ze long run if you knew my foster parents vere humans?"

"… After I lost you, I knew I wasn't fit to be a mother.  Rogue was already in the care of Irene and her family, so I called her up and told her to just watch her… Irene already knew it was coming."  _She always liked to tell me the outcome of things **after** they happened.  Not many people realize how cynical she is._  "Magneto found me a couple days after the incident.  I didn't know what to think… I just let him take me in.  I learned from him and started over.  Soon you and Rogue weren't on my mind as much as you should've been, but I still thought about you regardless.  I would contact Irene every now and again to get some readings from her about you since she had full control of her precognitive abilities by then, and to see how Rogue was doing, but it was just all mandatory priorities… nothing about my life was maternal at all.  I just didn't know how to cope with motherhood after bringing not one, but two children into this world at once."

"… How old vere you?"

"I'd just turned seventeen when I found out I was two months pregnant."

"Zat only makes you…"

"Just over thirty-four."

"Wow… for some reason I never knew zat."  He was quiet for a moment.  "You veren't raped or anyzing right?  Rogue said you didn't know who our vater is…"

She shook her head with earnest.  "No!  It was nothing like that.  I was careless one night, that's all.  I didn't really start to take control of my life until Magneto pointed me in the right direction."

"And now you're against him," Kurt stated flatly.  "You finally decided zat it was time to break free of his dominance over you?"

She nodded.

"You can understand zat zis is all very hard for me to take, you know.  I don't know vhether to believe you or not."

"You want proof?"

"If you have it, sure."

"Okay… I need for you to list someone your sister has absorbed that has caused her to manifest their actual physical attributes."

Kurt thought about it for a moment.  "There vas ze time she came home all furry from absorbing Sabretooth because Evan is an idiot sometimes."

_Sometimes?  _"That's a perfect example.  Now, Rogue adopted his physical features because they're natural to him, part of his powers, and so on.  She's absorbed you in the past, correct?"

"… And didn't turn blue…"  He looked at Mystique with wide yellow eyes.  "It's true, zen?"

"I wish it wasn't, but I wouldn't make up something like this just for the chance to talk with you for more than five minutes."

"I need somezing to drink."  Kurt sighed, sitting back down.  He didn't know what to express as a valid feeling in his mind.  He was hurt, angry, confused… anything negative he could think of was coming to mind.  Did he cry?  Should he lash out?  What would happen if he tried attacking her?  _I couldn't…_

"I should, um, check how Xavier is doing with Rogue and see if he's gotten any progress of getting into her mind."

Kurt nodded.  "I zink I'm just going to stay here und zink…"

"Okay.  Should I tell anyone that you're here?"  Kurt only shook his head.  "All right."  She lifted her hand up to pat his head, but quickly dropped it without him noticing the subtle action.  He wouldn't respond to anything positively concerning her showing physical maternal affection towards him.  Not now.  "I guess I'll see you in a bit then."

"Ja."  She began to walk away, only looking back once.  Kurt's three-fingered hands cradled his head. A single moon-struck tear would've been seen trailing down his arm, but it absorbed into his fur without even an innocent view to the world.

"How do Ah get it ta start?"

"Just will it to."

"Okay."  Rogue wasn't quite sure how to do it, but Carol made it seem easy enough.  She concentrated on the orb and in simple words, told it to start.  Her voice boomed around them.  "You're thinking too hard about it," Carol commented.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it.  It helps if you put your finger tip on the box… so you can center the thoughts into it."

Rogue nodded and did so.  The glass seemed so delicate under her gloved finger.  _Go ahead…_ she whispered to it.

Without warning, the wall in front of them was filled with color, swirling together until the distinct picture of Rogue playing in a field was before them.  She was wearing the black dress, but it wasn't torn.  It was very baggy and loose on her, however, so Rogue figured it came from Irene's clothing chest that she would play dress up with when she was that age.  Her hair was half pulled back in a ponytail, the rest of it falling out, every which way in a curly mess.  The white forelocks stood out as always.  

She was picking flowers randomly and humming to herself happily.  Then she heard a thump.  Blinking, she looked up from the bouquet of flowers in her hand to where the sound had come from.  Dropping the flowers as if she hadn't been solely concentrated on them for the last hour, she stood up and followed the noise.  It thumped again, louder this time, as she was closer to sound.  She found herself standing in front of the small forest that led to the river.  Rogue glanced back, checking to see if anyone was watching her, as she wasn't supposed to venture close to the river on her own.  She needed to know what that noise was though.

With a slight giggle, she crossed the border that led her into the forest.  She once again checked behind her, expecting someone to call for her to come back.  Her smile faded when she realized that she was alone though.  She stepped back towards the field, unsure of whether to go back or not, but then she heard the thump again, which decided for her that she was going towards the river once again.

"Hello?" She called out in a small voice.

There was another thump in response.

Smiling, Rogue knew she was close.  Her speed quickened through the brush, her dress tangling among the short bushes and low branches, causing her dress to rip and tear.  There was another thump, and it was almost on top of her.  "Ah'm close," she whispered to herself as she ran.  Suddenly, time slowed for her as she reached the river.  She caught herself on a branch before she flung herself into the river with her speed and momentum.

Panting, she looked up and down the river, but there was nothing out of the usual.  No more thumping, no odd noises at all, just water flowing down the river with its little waterfalls at sporadic points.  She sighed, remembering the flowers she'd abandoned for pretty much nothing.  She steadied herself on the ground and turned around, ready to walk.  However, she walked straight into a shadow.  Startled, she fell back a few steps that landed her in the river.  Luckily, Irene's younger sister had taught Rogue how to swim, so she didn't falter in the water long.  Instead, she set herself in a simple tread and looked up at to what she bumped into.

It was a man, dressed in all black.  His skin was pearl white, with jet black hair and demon red eyes.  Once she had gotten a good look at him, she was truly afraid.  She turned and attempted to swim across to the other side, but she was caught up in the current.  Before she started going downstream, she heard the man's laughter.  It was hollow and menacing.

She thought to herself, "What is he doin' here?  Was he the one makin' those noises?"  It didn't seem to matter to her that she was being taken away from her part of the forest, the field, her home.  It did occur to her though, when she suddenly felt herself being dragged under the water.  "No!" She cried out with her mouth full of water.  She managed one more breath of air before she went under again.

She didn't know how long she fell.  Soon water didn't seem to be flowing around her and pushing her down.  It was almost as if it was a failed attempt at flying and she was just plain falling.  She started to scream, high and piercing.  _Is this the end?_ She thought.

She thought it was the end, until she landed on something soft and fluffy.  The impact frightened her, so she lay still for a moment until she regained her composure.  She sat up, realizing she was sticking slightly to the pillow she'd landed on.  She sniffed the air and her nose filled with the scent of sugar.  "Ah'm on… marshmallows?"  It took her a second to convince herself, and then she was smiling again.  She took a handful and popped it in her mouth, enjoying how it seemed to melt into fluff once it connected with her tongue.  It made her long for peanut butter to go with it, but it was all good to her.  Rogue momentarily wished Irene were there so she could share it with her foster mother, and then remembered how far she was from home.

"Enjoying the treat?"

It was the same hollow voice from the man at the river.  Rogue looked up, gray-green eyes wide open with fear.  Her mouth was still half full of marshmallow, so she swallowed it in one big gulp.  "Who are ya," Rogue asked, pushing her fear behind her strong voice.  

The man smiled, his mouth full of pointed, yellow stained teeth.  "You may call me Essex, my dear."  He took a step toward her and she stumbled back among the marshmallows.  The pile became stickier and more viscous, trapping her so she couldn't get away.  She looked up at Essex, her eyes showing the fear she had earlier attempted to swallow.

"Why am Ah here?" Rogue somehow managed to say as the marshmallows started to crawl over her skin, consuming her.  The rags of her dress were gone already, and so were her legs.  She was afraid that if she didn't keep talking, she would soon be lost in them as well.

"You are a strong girl, aren't you," he said, close enough to cup her chin with his cold hands.  "And you know what?  You're going to be able to do anything you want."

She blinked tears back.  The stench of this man was awful, like a dead fish and vomit.  The marshmallows seemed to absorb the scent off him and now she was drowning in it.  "What do ya mean?" She coughed, fighting the bile that had risen in her throat.

"You're a special girl.  And I'm going to make sure you never forget that."  He released her face harshly and allowed the marshmallows to overpower her.  She tried kicking and screaming more, but she lost the fight against it.  She managed one final scream before the tainted marshmallows made their way through her mouth and suffocated her.

Rogue screamed as everything came back to her.  She didn't know how the dream was lost, nor how the memory of that night came back, but now she knew.

She looked at Carol with wide eyes, tears threatening to fall.  "Ah'm tryin' ta understand…"

Carol gulped quietly, unsure of what to do.  "What do you think happened that night?"

"Ah know what happened… he's the reason why Ah haven't been able ta control it.  Why you," she pointed at Carol. "Why you're stuck in here, because Magneto knew what Sinister did ta me.  He knew how ta get you ta stay in mah head an' never get out."  She stood up, not knowing if she should cry or scream again.

"Wait, wait, hold on a second.  The memory is coming back?"  Carol got up and walked past Rogue to the door of the shack.  "Oh, it definitely is."  She turned back to Rogue.  "I'm not sure if you want to go out here."

"Ah need ta," she said, determination now set on her features.  Carol stepped out of the way and allowed Rogue to exit the Cellar.

The landscape had become dark, very dark.  Wind had come out of nowhere and was tossing the cocoons every way possible.  Luckily, they were securely rooted to the ground, so all they did was sway violently.  The imprints within the cocoons were crying out in fear and anger, wondering what the hell was going on.  Rogue temporarily glanced back to Carol, who was still inside the Cellar, peeking out.  Her blonde hair billowed in the torrential wind.  Sighing, Rogue knew what had to be done.

She levitated herself about three feet off the ground and started heading in the direction the wind was blowing from.  In a matter of moments, the cocoon field, the Cellar and Carol were gone.  Everything had gone dark again, and it really upset Rogue.  All the time she had spent correcting the messes of her mind had all gone to waste and it was one man's fault.  The memory of him had demolished any order in her mind since he had suddenly turned up as a crucial part of her past.

Rogue closed her eyes and allowed the wind to take hold of her.  She couldn't navigate herself through her memory bank on her own, because then she could've easily found the memory before everything happened.  Because of the way she was traveling there, she was slightly afraid she wouldn't make it back.  However, she put that fear aside and concentrated on the task at hand.

"Sinister?" She called out, her voice stronger than ever.  She knew fear wouldn't get her anywhere now.  She didn't know what to expect, or how the memory would represent itself.  Would she be able to interact with it and talk to Sinister as she was with Carol?  Or would she just relive it?  Rogue hoped for a little of each, even though the latter seemed to be the worse.  Reliving what could be the most horrible event of her life just didn't seem like it deserved a spot on her to-do list of the day.

Out of nowhere, the wind stopped moving and Rogue fell hard on her butt.  She had been so caught up in the wind she didn't even bother to try flying once she really got moving, so she lost control in that moment.  She was surrounded by darkness, and she was sure she wouldn't even be able to see her hand in front of her face.  Preparing for anything, she closed her eyes and put her arm over her face, just to shield anything that could possibly come out of anywhere.

"There you are, my dear," she heard faintly.  

_Is it okay ta open mah eyes?_ She asked herself.

"Of course it is.  Come out of there," a familiar voice said soothingly.  "It's time for bed."

Rogue opened her eyes, and sure enough, there was Irene, extending her hand out for Rogue.  She glanced around and she was once again seven, but this time she was in her room in Caldecott County.  "Ah don't wanna go ta bed though," she pouted.  She didn't know why she had responded in that way.  _Ah **am** relivin' it!_ she cried out.  She looked up at Irene who gave her a stern look.

"Don't give me that.  C'mon," she waited for Rogue to take her hand and when she did, Irene helped the little girl up.  Rogue let go of her hand once she was up and got into bed.  Irene tucked her in and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead.  The young her giggled under the touch, and in her head, Rogue reveled in it.  She had missed small signs of affection like that.  "Good night, dear."

"Are ya gonna keep the bad dreams away?"

Irene smiled, knowing they played this game every night.  "Of course.  You sleep well, child."

Rogue nodded and snuggled into the blankets more while Irene turned out the lights and shut the door.  Rogue's content smile drifted away as she realized once again she was reliving the memory.  _Ah've gotta get outta here.  Ah'm afraid of what Ah'm gonna see,_ she thought to herself quietly as she pulled the sheets up past her chin.  _Am Ah supposed ta fall asleep… when does he come foh me?_

Her question was answered a few moments later when she heard a scream from downstairs and then a large thump.  _Like in the dream_, she thought to herself.  Footsteps were thundering up the steps and before Rogue could react, she was stolen from her bed, her pillowcase ripped from her bed and thrown over her head.  She screamed and flailed and tried to get away without avail.  Somehow consciousness slipped from her and a moment later she was lying back on a cold metal table.

_Like when me an' Remy were captured…_ She couldn't believe that she had technically been in the same situation a few months before and she somehow didn't think of the déjà vu.

"Welcome back to the living," the same cold, hollow voice whispered into her ear.  

She recoiled from the voice and the stale breath that followed it, but didn't get fair.  Leather straps around her wrists, ankles and torso held her down.  "Why am Ah here?" She asked in a small voice, shaky with unshed tears.

"You have already served your purpose to me," he said, seeming as if he completely ignored her question.  "You will be so indestructible, my little rogue."

She blinked.  "What are ya talkin' about?"  Her head could move, so she watched him pace around her and around the room.

"I'm a scientist, and as a scientist, I experiment.  Can you follow that?"

"What are ya babblin' about?"  A lone tear rolled down her cheek, reminding Rogue how young and vulnerable she really was at that moment.  Another escaped, followed by another one, and then more came down without warning.  Soon she was sobbing, crying for Irene to wake her up.

"Now, now, don't cry.  I did you a favor… sort of."  He leaned down to her level once again.  Her green eyes were rimmed red by this point with her tears and more just followed.  "You will be the perfect warrior.  No need to ever worry about feelings, or getting involved with the hopeless woes of being a normal person.  You can just take what you need for the rest of your life, with no problem."

"Ah don't wanna though!  Ah wanna go home in mah bed!  This ain't happenin'!"

He smiled, showing off his pointed yellow teeth once more.  "Of course it isn't.  You won't remember a thing either."  His hand disappeared from her view.  The next time she saw it, it was holding a syringe with translucent purple liquid.  "Soon this will all be a silly nightmare that you'll forget in time, but I'll make sure it leaves an impression on you for your whole life."  With that said, he abruptly shoved the needle in her neck and pushed all of the syringe's contents into her veins.  She tried to stay conscious for a moment, but the overwhelming feeling of sleepiness took hold of her and she was out.  

And Rogue was in darkness again.  Tears still rolled down her cheeks, but she felt around to find out where she was.  First she felt her clothes – she was back in the tattered black dress, gloves donning her hands once again.  The ground was hard and cold under her legs.  She stood up, rubbing warmth back into them.  She turned and saw the light of the cocoon field not too far off.  Smiling, she realized that her mind hadn't completely shut down due to the surfacing memory.  The smile faded once she remembered the memory.  Her suspicion had been correct; it was Sinister's fault that she hadn't been able to control her power thus far.  Regardless, she was determined now to do what she could with her powers just to spite him.  

She began flying back towards the lighter part of her mind, tossing about ideas for what she could do.  _Maybe when Carol is walkin' 'round in mah body, Ah can start tinkerin' with things in here… hopefully somethin'll pop outta no where an' give me some answers._  Even though the incident with Sinister happened ten years ago, she had to beat it.  She had to overcome it and prove him wrong.  And when she did finally get control of her powers, she would make a video tape of hugging everyone without fear, shaking hands without the barrier of gloves, slap a high five to Kitty after a good move in the Danger Room and hear the sound of smacking hands instead of the usually muffled noise she was used to, and even record her truly having sex with Remy, just to spite the asshole.  _Ah don't care if it'd be considered a porn an' Ah don't care how many people would watch it.  It'd be me, touchin'.  And that's one failed experiment Ah wouldn't mind spittin' in his face._

She made it to the cocoon field without much trouble, unlike what she previously thought.  "Carol?" She called out.  She landed on her feet and began running towards the Cellar, figuring the blonde would be waiting for her there.

"Hey.  How did it go?" She asked casually with twinkling blue eyes.  She was hiding her concern well.

"Ah was raht, Ah can't touch because o' him.  But Ah'm gonna change that.  He's not gonna win."

Carol smiled.  "That's what I want to hear.  What about me being stuck in here?  I mean… I was most likely not in the memory or anything, but with all this happening, maybe you could figure out a way…" Her head dropped

Rogue placed a hand on Carol's shoulder, and she didn't pull away.  "Ah'm gonna work on that, Ah promise."  She looked back to where she had just traveled from and put her fist in the air, shaking it.  "Ya hear that?  Ya're not gonna keep me down, asshole!"  

Carol laughed.  "Yeah… he definitely heard you."

"Shut up," Rogue muttered, grinning.  "Ah haven't felt this good in so long."

"Me too, actually.  It's nice to talk to someone for a change… I mean, even if it's _you_," she added, rolling her eyes at the last part.

"Ah think it's time foh me ta wake up though.  The others might be gettin' worried, especially Remy if he's woken up by now."

"Yeah… maybe you should.  Umm… do you mind if I walk around a bit instead of locking me back in the cage?"

Rogue blinked.  "Ah hadn't even thought 'bout doin' that…  It should be all raht… as long as ya don't screw with things."

"I won't.  I just want to… move, you know?"

Rogue nodded.  "No problem.  Then Ah guess Ah'll be seein' ya later… however that'll work."  Carol nodded as well, not wanting to say any drawn out goodbyes.  Rogue got the picture and began to wake her body up.  Light filled the landscape as if she were opening her eyes to the morning sun.  In a moment, she was out of the light and in darkness.

She blinked her eyes a few times and tried to put her observations together.  She was curled up against a body, no doubt Remy's.  Her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit library, Xavier sitting by, his eyes opening along with hers.  He smiled at her warmly; welcoming her back silently even though she knew he was disappointed he hadn't been able to help her.

"How are you doing?" He asked, concealing his fear of her response well.

She smiled, allowing him to be at peace.  "Ah learned what Ah needed ta find out," she said, holding back a sigh.  "It's okay though.  Ah'm only more determined ta control mah powers now."

She received a tighter hug from Remy.  "T'ought it didn' matter t' y' after Seattle," he whispered.

Her smile faded.  "He's the reason Ah can't touch now.  That was the memory, Remy  Even if Ah were ta try an' learn befoh ta control mah powers… it wouldn't have even mattered.  He's made it so Ah wouldn't be able ta control them ever, in the event that he could take me captive an' use me like he tried." As she explained this all to him, his face dipped down lower to her, anger and sadness reflecting in his eyes.  Xavier, feeling slightly awkward from watching this moment obviously shared by only the two of them, motioned for Ororo to follow him out of the library.

Rogue vaguely noticed the adults leaving.  "Ah've gotta overcome it now.  If Ah don't, it's like lettin' him win."

"I understand, chere.  Jus' promise y' won' shut me out while y' figure it out."

Rogue was about to ask him why should would ever consider not including him in the most important step of her life, but just dropped the dramatics.  She'd had enough for one night.  "Ah never would."  She snuggled more into him, feeding off his warmth for comfort.  In response, he held her tighter.

"When're y' gon' tell everyone?"

"Ah figure the professor'll just tell everyone what he just heard, usin' discretion of course.  But Ah just wanna take a nap, raht now… Ah'm so tired."

"Den sleep, cherie.  Y've earned a good night's sleep."

"Love ya," she whispered before yawning and further nestling into the curve of his body.

He kissed the top of her head, whispering "Love y' too," before shutting his own eyes.

Kurt sat in the garden by himself for what seemed like forever.  The tears had stopped rolling long before, but the pain was still there.  Even though Mystique had explained herself pretty thoroughly, there was no room for forgiveness in his book.  _I could've been normal_, he kept telling himself, not wanting to believe it.  He spent a lot of time looking at his hands, trying to understand.

He idly began thinking about Rogue, and what she was searching for.  Was she accepting her news just as badly?  He pushed away his self-loathing for the moment to think more about his sister.  She was generally in the same situation as him, both being genetically altered by two lunatics who thought that mutants should take their rightful place on top of the world.

He looked up to where his mother had retreated and saw her nowhere in sight.  Relieved he wouldn't have to face her again, he stood up, ready to go inside.  He began to walk, but then realized he would have to face everyone once he strolled in the front door.  _I von't be able to just walk by them vith a straight face.  Not vith vhat I know now._  Remembering that Rogue was brought into the library after she and Remy arrived home, he opted to teleport directly there, seeing as how she was the only person he wanted to talk to at the moment.

With a thought, he was surrounded by a cloud of sulfur and brimstone, and in a split second, he was in the darkness of the library.  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and find his sister lying on the couch in Remy's arms.  

Red eyes blinked at Kurt and a low "shh" was heard.  Kurt nodded and tiptoed to the armchair sitting next to the couch.  "How is she?" he whispered as softly as possible.

"As good as c'n be, mon ami.  She finally be gettin' de sleep she needs."

"Should I take her up to her room?"

Remy seemed to think about it for a moment.  Teleportation probably wouldn't wake her up, and him carrying her throughout the group of people collected in the foyer would just draw attention, even though it was full of people that cared for her.  After weighing the options in his head, Remy nodded.  "I'll get m'self up dere in a few minutes."  

Kurt nodded and stood up once more, readying himself to take Rogue into his arms.  With the utmost care, Remy transferred the peacefully slumbering Rogue into her brother's arms.  She remained curled up, but nestled into Kurt's body once she was settled against him. "I'll see you in a couple minutes, zen?"  Remy nodded and slipped out the back way towards the kitchen.  Kurt teleported directly up to Rogue's shared room.

She stirred lightly in his arms as he waited for the smell of sulfur to disperse.  "Kurt?" she mumbled, her eyes opening slightly to identify him.

"It's me, schwester.  Go back to sleep."

She nodded sleepily and nestled into him once again, making it hard for him to lay her down on her bed.  Once he did accomplish that, he fixed her tangled sheets and tucked her in.  "Kurt?"

"Ja?"

"Can ya stay with me awhile?  Until Remy gets up here?"

"Sure," he said, taking a seat at the foot of her bed.  She rolled over so she could see his golden eyes shining brightly at her.

"Did ya talk ta Mystique?" she asked softly, unsure of how to bring up the topic.  He nodded, and she could only tell the motion by the bobbing of his eyes.  "Are ya okay?"

"I guess… for ze time being, I suppose."

"Ya wanna talk about it?  We can exchange details of our wonderfully educational night," she said, laughing halfheartedly.

Kurt nodded again, so Rogue shifted over to the side a bit and patted the space next to her.  Kurt teleported to the spot, making himself comfortable.  "Do you vant to start, or should I?"

"Whatevah you want, Elf.  Ah have no preference."

Kurt opted to go first, seeing as how half the information he would share related to her since it was their mother involved.  Rogue wasn't surprised at all by how they had been conceived, nor was she shocked about why Mystique ran out on them.  "She's always been weak like that," she commented, "even with her hard outer shell."  Kurt nodded, but asked her to be quiet for the rest of his explanation.  Once he was finished, Rogue didn't know what to say.  She didn't want to just start with her tale of woe, because then it would look like she was trying to show him up.  Sort of like: "Well, ya wouldn't believe what happened ta _me_ when Ah was a kid.  It's so much worse!"  She knew how much being normal meant to him.  Hell, if Mystique could've just dealt with blue head hair, Kurt would've been fine. He could've been Gothic like her, too, she thought with a small smile.  But they were way beyond that point now.

"Ah don't know what ta say," she admitted finally, once enough uncomfortable silence had passed.

"It's okay," he replied, sitting back in the pillows.  "It just takes a lot of thinking to come to terms vith it."

"Ah've been there."

"What happened vith you?" 

Sighing, she began her story, beginning with, well, the beginning.  Carol being freed in her mind, helping her find the dreams, seeing the dream, everything.  Kurt listened without words, nodding here and there.  By the time she was finished, Kurt could sense a slight waver in her voice as if she wanted to cry, but knew she wouldn't do such a thing in front of him.  He hadn't seen her cry since she'd absorbed Carol, and he was pretty sure she wouldn't show such a weakness again if she could help it.

"Are _you_ okay?" he asked softly.

She shrugged.  "Ah really want ta control mah powers more'n ever, now."

"But vhat if he made it so you can't…?"

She sighed.  "Ah dunno then.  Ah'm still gonna try ta figure it out.  Ah think the key is still locked up in here," she tapped her temple.  "It's just a matter of findin' it an' switchin' it around so Ah can stop it.  Ah never thought ta look foh it befoh, so Ah didn't know how ta control it."  He laughed shortly, and it sounded bitter to Rogue's ears.  "What's wrong?"

"At least you have a vay to overcome your obstacle.  I'm stuck looking like zis for ze rest of my life."

"You have the inducer-"

"It's just a mask," he said, sighing.  Rogue knew the inducer was no consolation to him whatsoever.  Sure, it was nice to go out and not be a freak to the rest of the world, but she knew that he had to come home and look at himself in the mirror.

"Kurt," she started, turning in the bed so she could look him in the eyes.  "You're one of the strongest people Ah know.  Don't ever doubt that.  So ya don't look like a normal person.  Normal is one of those overrated words that should only mean somethin' ta people who strive to be like everyone else.  There is no point in bein' like the next person in line because then there's no point ta livin'."

"I know vhat you're trying to get at, und I appreciate it-"

"No, ya don't.  Kurt, it's not like you ta be stuck in this self-loathin' mood o' yoahs.  It makes me wanna tear mah heart out when Ah see ya like this, because even though Ah'm sayin' all this shit now, it's not gonna make any change ta how ya feel 'bout yoahself when ya leave this room.  It's like Ah wish Ah could do somethin' better foh ya, ta take away yoah pain, but then there's nothin'.  Like Ah got off easy when we came outta Mystique."

"Rogue, don't feel guilty on behalf of me.  It's not your fault that I'm like zis."

"Ah feel guilty because we don't have talks like this enough ta make it seem like we're even related, let alone twins."

He paused for a moment.  "Ve are vorlds apart at times," he whispered.

She nodded silently.  "Ah'm usually the one pushin' ya away, too."

He shrugged.  "Neizer of us know how to deal vith it.  Ve've only known for, how long?"

"That's true, Ah guess."  They both sighed, letting the silence consume them once again.  Everything was pretty much out for them, and there was nothing left to say.  Rogue wanted to help Kurt in every way possible, but since there was nothing she could do about genetically altered appearances personally, she was stuck just telling him that she'd be there for him.  And that never seems like enough in that sort of position.  While Kurt was discreetly jealous that his sister might be able to overcome her altercation, he was happy that one of them had a chance at getting past their childhood disasters.

"I zink I'm going to go to bed… sleep zis off."

"Is everyone still downstairs?"

"Ja."

"Oh.  Ah guess they'll just have ta wait down there until someone gives 'em an explanation."

"Und I guess ze Brotherhood vill just end up spending ze night."

"Ah'm not worried 'bout that.  Ah dunno how ta tell 'em somethin' like this, ya know?  Ah hate havin' this much attention on me, an' then havin' ta explain every li'l thing that came out of it."

"The professor vill probably explain it vaguely to everyone so zey get ze general gist."

"Most likely," she said with another sigh.

"You should get some sleep," he suggested, standing up.

"Yeah… we both need it like nothin' else raht now."

"Guten Nacht, Rogue."

"'Night, Elf."  Kurt left via teleportation a second later without looking back.  Rogue settled back in her bed again, sighing.  _Tonight sucks,_ she decided randomly.  Sitting up again, she began to peel off her gloves, as a wave of heat washed over her.

There was a knock on the door.  "Chere?"

"Come on in, Remy," she called.  

The door opened just slightly, and Remy's head peeked in.  "Y' decent?" She could see the smirk on his face.

"'Course, Ah am, ya silly Swamp Rat.  Get in here."

Without another thought, he came in and sat down next to her on the bed.  They were quiet for a second, but then Remy caught Rogue's clear gray-green eyes with his own.  "How's Kurt?"

"As good as he can be, Ah guess."  She was silent after that, indicating to Remy that she didn't want to talk about it.

"Y' should get some sleep," he suggested again.

She bit her lip.  "Will ya stay here with me?"

"'Course I will."  Rogue settled herself in her blankets once again.  Remy waited for her to get comfortable then he took her in his arms.  He lay on his back with her facing his left side, her head lying lazily on his shoulder.  With their legs intertwined as best as they could with the blanket around her (as she was still wearing only shorts), they finally got comfortable.

"G'night, Remy."

He kissed her softly on the top of her head.  "'Night, chere."

Snuggling into him even more with a pleasant smile on her face, she mentally whispered, _"Night, Carol."_

She could feel the blonde's surprise at the sudden attention.  Her smile widened when Carol replied with her own _"Good night, Rogue."_

Rogue's eyes drifted closed and soon she was lost in sleep filled with dreams she would be glad to remember in the morning.

The end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, before I'm attacked, let me explain myself, sorta.  I initially stopped working on this story so I could concentrate on _Street Livin'_, but then that story just would not end, so this one was neglected for a **very** long time as you can see.  Though, hopefully, I will have met all your expectations for the end of the story, and don't think I'm going to drop the story line.  Next in line is what I'm calling "Thirteen-Hour Shoes", which obviously involves Carol being in control of Rogue's body.  I'm not sure when I will actually begin that story, as I have now neglected _Street Livin'_.  *sighs*  I just can't win.  Anyway, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed in the last 10 months, dying for me to get this chapter going.  I really hope that the length more than makes up for itself, and also, that the story does as well.  

*smooch* I love you all, and I really appreciate you making it this far.  You all deserve so much for making it to the end of this ungodly long chapter and for waiting so long for it.  You guys are the best and I wouldn't be a quarter (or whatever is better than half… I suck at math) of the writer I am without you guys reading and reviewing my work.

Also, *shameless plug alert* writer Lilith Knight and I have started up an update list to let people know when we update our story, _Twisted Christmas, the X-Men Way_.  It's also a list to be updated for stories written exclusively by either Lilith or me.  So, if you're sick of scouring for that next update of _Street Livin'_, or don't want to be on a constant hawk search for the next part of this still unnamed Evolution arc, please join!  It's kinda measly with just the three members beside me and Lil… *pouts*

So… clickies and become a member!    

Speaking of Lilith, much thanks for being my beta.  She spent so much time and stayed up late just so she could finish this up.  She'll always be more than I could ask for when it comes to help, and also for being my friend.  Lilith, you rock beyond words.  And in the last couple weeks I'm sure I would've gone insane without your advice and kind words of maiming a certain person *giggles*

See ya all around!  :o)


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